Japanese vocabulary lists by topic: food, travel, work, emotions, health and the body, the daily routine, days and months, and the 100 most common nouns and verbs. Every word is shown in Japanese script with its romaji reading, and each page explains what a list hides: counters, verb groups, which words sound formal, and how kanji compounds are built.
- Japanese taught
- Standard Japanese
- List size
- 40 to 100 words, printed in full
- Readings
- Hepburn romaji for every word
- Beyond the list
- Counters, verb groups, polite forms, katakana loanwords
- In context
- Most lists quote lines from Contos chapters
- The most common Japanese nouns: 100 everyday words100 everyday Japanese nouns with romaji: people, places, time and things, plus why Japanese has no plurals, how counters work, and ある vs いる.
- The most common Japanese verbs: 100 to learn first100 common Japanese verbs with romaji, plus the polite ます form, the three verb groups, あげる vs くれる and the entries that aren't verbs in Japanese.
- Japanese daily routine vocabulary: 60 words from waking up to bedtime60 Japanese words for the day: getting up, the commute, shopping, weather, chores and greetings, with romaji and the verbs in their ます forms.
- Days of the week and months in JapaneseThe days of the week and the twelve months in Japanese with romaji, plus the irregular readings of 四月, 七月 and 九月, dates and seasons.
- Japanese words for emotions and personality: 60 words60 Japanese words for feelings and character with romaji, plus 嬉しい vs 幸せ, why 怖がる is for other people, and real lines from Contos stories.
- Japanese food vocabulary: 60 words with readings60 Japanese food and restaurant words in kana and kanji with romaji, plus ご飯 vs 米, katakana loanwords and phrases for eating out.
- Japanese words for the body and health: 50 words50 Japanese words for the body, illness and the doctor's, with romaji, plus how to say what hurts with 痛い and phrases for the pharmacy.
- Japanese travel vocabulary: 60 words for airports, hotels and directions60 Japanese travel words with romaji for airports, hotels, roads and directions, plus counting luggage, asking the way and the バイク false friend.
- Useful everyday Japanese verbs: 100 more to learn100 more everyday Japanese verbs with romaji, plus fixed phrases like 嘘をつく, pairs such as 消す and 消える, and which words sound formal.
- Japanese work and office vocabulary: 60 words60 Japanese work words with romaji for the office, meetings, pay and job hunting, plus お疲れ様です, office phrases and which words are formal.
Which Japanese word list should you learn first?
Start with the 100 most common nouns, which also explains why Japanese has no plurals and when to use ある or いる, and the 100 most common verbs, which introduces the polite ます form and the three verb groups.
After that, pick by need. Travelling in Japan: travel and food. Working with Japanese colleagues: work, including お疲れ様です (otsukaresama desu). Talking about your day and how you feel: daily routine and emotions. Health and the body, days and months and 100 more useful verbs fill in the rest.
Should you learn Japanese words in kanji, kana or romaji?
Learn the sound and the written form together. Romaji is fine for your first look at a word, but real text, including every Contos chapter, uses kanji and kana only. If a word is usually written in kanji, learn to recognise its kanji early, even before you can write it.
Expect two words for some everyday things: a native word and a katakana loanword. The same A1 Contos chapter calls the kitchen キッチン (kitchin) in its first paragraph and 台所 (daidokoro) a few lines later:
ロボ助 は 台所 で 野菜 を 切って います。Robosuke wa daidokoro de yasai o kitte imasu.
From Meddlesome Robot: Welcome to the Tanaka Household, chapter 2 (A1)
Contos writes Japanese with spaces between words, as above, so you can see where each word starts and ends while your kanji catch up.
Frequently asked questions
How many Japanese words do I need?
Contos moves readers up to A2 at 500 known words, B1 at 1,500 and B2 at 4,000. How many Japanese words and kanji you need explains why there is no official list and how many kanji beginner stories actually use.
Do Japanese nouns have gender or plurals?
Neither. 本 (hon) is book or books, and there are no articles to learn. Number comes from context or from counters, such as 一冊 (issatsu), one book; the common nouns page explains how counters work.
Why do some Japanese words have two readings?
Most kanji have a Japanese reading and one or more readings borrowed from Chinese, and the word decides which applies. 月 is tsuki on its own (moon) but gatsu in 四月 (shigatsu, April). The days and months page lists the irregular ones.
Can I learn Japanese vocabulary through reading?
Yes, once you know the kana. Graded stories repeat everyday words often enough to learn them without drilling. In Contos you can tap any word to see its meaning and save it as a flashcard.