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When referring to the subject of a sentence, like how in English there are words such as “this” or “that” there are Japanese equivalents of those words.

> これ・この

これ translates to the word “this,” used to refer to a subject near the speaker.

Kanji	Hiragana	English
これは私の日本語の教科書です。	これは　わたし　の　にほんご　の　きょうかしょ　です	This is my Japanese textbook.

> それ・その

それ translates into the word “that,” used to refer to a subject closer to the listener, and farther from the speaker.

Kanji	Hiragana	English
それは雑誌ですか？	それは　ざっし　ですか？	Is that a magazine?

> あれ・あの

あれ translates to the phrase “that over there,” used to refer to something most likely distant from both the speaker and the listener.

Kanji	Hiragana	English
あれは動物園です。	あれは　どうぶつえん　です。	That over there is a zoo.

> どれ・どの

れ translates into the word “which.”

Kanji	Hiragana	English
どれですか？	どれですか？	Which is it?

Important: A key thing to remember is that これ, それ, あれ, and どれ are terms that can stand alone in their meaning but cannot show possession.

Kanji	Hiragana	English
ぞれ？	ぞれ？	That one? (Casual)

Conversely, この, その, あの, and どの are phrases that cannot stand alone, but show possession to something.

Kanji	Hiragana	English
このDVDです。	このDVDです。	It’s this DVD.
どのレストランですか？。	どのレストランですか？	Whichi restaurant is it?

In Japanese, when speaking/writing, the verb will always come at the end of the sentence, with the subject towards the beginning. A common set of verbs that are used are verbs that indicate that the subject of the sentence exists. This is the simplest sentence structure. The three verbs that indicate existence, in their non-past polite forms are:

です　います　あります

 From this, we can get the past forms by simply changing the ending of the verb.

By changing to した from す we get the past affirmative form.

でした　いました　ありました

---

> です

loosely translates to ‘is’ or ‘to be.’ This is a very loose translation, as ですhas many usages.

Example of ですused in its positive form:

Kanji	Hiragana	English
私は 大学生です。	わたし　は　だいがくせい　です。	I am a college student.

All verbs also have a negative form – which in the case of です, isではありません.

Kanji	Hiragana	English
私は 高校生ではありません。	わたし　は　こうこうせいでは　ありません。	I am not a high school student.

> います

います indicates the existence of a living subject.

Example of います used in its positive form:

Kanji	Hiragana	English
私の犬はベッドの上にいます。	わたし　の　いぬ　は　ベッド　の　うえ　に　います。	My dog is on top of the bed.

The negative form of います is いません.

Kanji	Hiragana	English
私の犬は外にいません。	わたし　の　いぬ　は　そと　に　いません。	My dog is not outside.

> あります

あります indicates the existence of an inanimate object.

Example of あります used in its positive form:

Kanji	Hiragana	English
本は机の上にあります。	ほん　は　つくえ　の　うえ　に　あります。	The book is on top of the desk.

The negative form of あります is ありません.

Kanji	Hiragana	English
机の上に本がありません。	つくえ　の　うえ　に　ほんが　ありません	The book is not on the desk.

All dates and time format in Japan follows YYYY/MM/DD HH:MM:SS format.

The year is also simple, as it consists of saying the year number and adding 年 (ねん). There are two ways to denote the year, however. The first is the aforementioned method of just saying the actual number. The other version is based off of when emperors gain the throne. Since 1989, we’ve been in the Heisei (平成) era until 2019. The previous era from 1926-1989 was the Shōwa (昭和) era. Heisei (平成) ended in 2019 as the previous emperor Abdicated. 

The name Reiwa (令和) of a new era name has been announced. You can find the current Reiwa (令和) year by subtracting 2019 from the current year.

Era 

English	Kanji	Hiragana	Period
Reiwa	令和	れいわ	2019～
Heisei	平成	へいせい	1989～
Shōwa	昭和	しょうわ	1926～
Taishō	大正	たいしょう	1912～
Meiji	明治	めいじ	1868～
Edo	江戸	えど	1603～

 

Month

After learning numbers, we can transit into learning dates and times. All of the months consist of the number of the month, followed by 月 (がつ).

English	Kanji	Hiragana	Old Japanese
January	一月	いちがつ	睦月（むつき）
February	二月	にがつ	如月（きさらぎ）
March	三月	さんがつ	弥生（やよい）
April	四月	しがつ	卯月（うづき）
May	五月	ごがつ	皐月（さつき）
June	六月	ろくがつ	水無月（みなづき）
July	七月	しちがつ or なながつ	文月（ふみつき）
August	八月	はちがつ	葉月（はづき）
September	九月	くがつ	長月（ながつき）
October	十月	じゅうがつ	神無月（かんなづき）
November	十一月	じゅういちがつ	霜月（しもつき）
December	十二月	じゅうにがつ	師走（しわす）

Date

Most days are also written in the standard form of the day number followed by 日 (にち). However, there are exceptions to this for days 1-10, the 14th, the 20th, and the 24th.

English	Kanji	Hiragana
1st	一日	ついたち
2nd	二日	ふつか
3rd	三日	みっか
4th	四日	よっか
5th	五日	いつか
6th	六日	むいか
7th	七日	なのか
8th	八日	ようか
9th	九日	ここのか
10th	十日	とおか
11th	十一日	じゅういちにち
12th	十二日	じゅうににち
13th	十三日	じゅうさんにち
14th	十四日	じゅうよっか
15th	十五日	じゅうごにち
16th	十六日	じゅうろくにち
17th	十七日	じゅうしちにち
18th	十八日	じゅうはちにち
19th	十九日	じゅうくにち
20th	二十日	はつか
21st	二十一日	にじゅういちにち
22th	二十二日	にじゅうににち
23th	二十三日	にじゅうさんにち
24th	二十四日	にじゅうよっか
25th	二十五日	にじゅうごにち
26th	二十六日	にじゅうろくにち
27th	二十七日	にじゅうしちにち
28th	二十八日	にじゅうはちにち
29th	二十九日	にじゅうくにち
30th	三十日	さんじゅうにち
31st	三十一日	さんじゅういちにち

Time

Time format is the same as western format of HH:MM:SS. The hour is the number followed by 時 (じ), the minutes are the number followed by 分 (ぷん or ふん). The second is the number followed by 秒 (びょう).

For Minutes, 分 (ぷん or ふん, depending on the preceding number) From 1-10, there is a pattern of the usage of ぷん andふん. This pattern repeats for the higher digit numbers as well.

AM is written as 午前(ごぜん) before the time and PM is written as 午後(ごご) before the time. 1:20 AM is written, 午前一時二十分（ごぜんいちじにじゅっぷん） 24 hour format is also used in Japan.

 

Hour

English	Kanji	Hiragana
12:00	十二時	じゅうにじ
1:00	一時	いちじ
2:00	二時	にじ
3:00	三時	さんじ
4:00	四時	よじ
5:00	五時	ごじ
6:00	六時	ろくじ
7:00	七時	しちじ
8:00	八時	はちじ
9:00	九時	くじ
10:00	十字	じゅうじ
11:00	十一時	じゅういちじ

Minutes

English	Kanji	Hiragana
1:00	一分	いっぷん
2:00	二分	にふん
3:00	三分	さんぷん
4:00	四分	よんぷん
5:00	五分	ごふん
6:00	六分	ろっぷん
7:00	七分	ななふん
8:00	八分	はちふん
9:00	九分	きゅうふん
10:00	十分	じゅっぷん

The Japanese language has specific ways to count depending on the type of counted item. Included are 13 of the major ones that people use. There are a lot more in existence, but these are more of the common ones. Any kanji for counted values will consist of the number then the kanji for the appropriate counter.

-つ

Usage: For generic objects without a specific counter. “つ” applies only to single digit number 1 to 9.

Number	Hiragana
1	ひとつ
2	ふたつ
3	みっつ
4	よっつ
5	いつつ
6	むっつ
7	ななつ
8	やっつ
9	ここのつ
10	とお ot じゅう

-枚（まい）

Usage: For flat, thin objects such as paper or cloth.

Number	Hiragana
1	いちまい
2	にまい
3	さんまい
4	よんまい or よまい
5	ごまい
6	ろくまい
7	ななまい
8	はちまい
9	きゅうまい
10	じゅうまい

-人（にん）

Usage: For counting people.

Number	Hiragana
1	ひとり
2	ふたり
3	さんにん
4	よにん
5	ごにん
6	ろくにん
7	ななにん or しちにん
8	はちにん
9	きゅうにん
10	じゅうにん

-冊（さつ）

Usage: For counting bound objects, such as books or magazines.

Number	Hiragana
1	いっさつ
2	にさつ
3	さんさつ
4	よさつ
5	ごさつ
6	ろくさつ
7	ななさつ
8	はっさつ
9	きゅうさつ
10	じゅっさつ

-匹（ひき）

Usage: For counting small animals, fish or insects.

Number	Hiragana
1	いっぴき
2	にひき
3	さんびき
4	よんひき
5	ごひき
6	ろっぴき
7	ななひき
8	はっぴき
9	きゅうひき
10	じゅっぴき

-回（かい）

Usage: Number of times; frequency.

Number	Hiragana
1	いっかい
2	にかい
3	さんかい
4	よんかい
5	ごかい
6	ろっかい
7	ななかい
8	はちかい or はっかい
9	きゅうかい
10	じゅっかい

-歳（さい）

Usage: To count the age of something or someone.

Number	Hiragana
1	いっさい
2	にさい
3	さんさい
4	よんさい
5	ごさい
6	ろくさい
7	ななさい
8	はっさい
9	きゅうさい
10	じゅっさい

-本（ほん）

Usage: To count long, cylindrical objects such as pencils or trees.

Number	Hiragana
1	いっぽん
2	にほん
3	さんぼん
4	よんほん
5	ごほん
6	ろっぽん
7	ななほん
8	はちほん
9	きゅうほん
10	じゅっぽん

-杯（はい）

Usage: To count cups or glassfuls of something.

Number	Hiragana
1	いっぱい
2	にはい
3	さんばい
4	よんはい or しはい
5	ごはい
6	ろっぱい
7	ななはい or しちはい
8	はちはい or はっぱい
9	きゅうはい
10	じゅっぱい

-階（かい）

Usage: To count the number of floors of a building.

Number	Hiragana
1	いっかい
2	にかい
3	さんかい
4	よんかい
5	ごかい
6	ろっかい
7	ななかい
8	はちかい or はっかい
9	きゅうかい
10	じゅっかい

-台（だい）

Usage: To count machines or vehicles.

Number	Hiragana
1	いちだい
2	にだい
3	さんだい
4	よんだい
5	ごだい
6	ろくだい
7	ななだい
8	はちだい
9	きゅうだい
10	じゅうだい

-個（こ）

Usage: To count other small, generally round objects.

Number	Hiragana
1	いっこ
2	にこ
3	さんこ
4	よんこ
5	ごこ
6	ろっこ
7	ななこ
8	はちこ
9	きゅうこ
10	じゅっこ

-羽（は）

Usage: To count birds.

Number	Hiragana
1	いっぱ
2	にわ
3	さんば
4	よんぱ
5	ごわ
6	ろっぱ
7	ななは or しちは
8	はっぱ
9	きゅうわ
10	じゅっぱ

Numbers in Japanese initially, before learning counters are probably simpler than those in English. In Japanese, up until the number 100, all numbers follow the same pattern of combining previous numbers together. Even after 100, this pattern continues, with some slight variations in pronunciation for the values of 300, 600, 800, 3000 and 8000 (for numbers up to 10000) Starting with 1-10, which become the base of the rest of the numbers:

 

Number 1 to 10

English	Kanji	Hiragana
1	一	いち
2	二	に
3	三	さん
4	四	し or よん
5	五	ご
6	六	ろく
7	七	しち or なな
8	八	はち
9	九	きゅう or く
10	十	じゅう

 

Number 11 to 19

After 10, the pattern repeats, adding じゅう before all of the numbers up to 20.

English	Kanji	Hiragana
11	十一	じゅういち
12	十二	じゅうに
13	十三	じゅうさん
14	十四	じゅうし or じゅうよん
15	十五	じゅうご
16	十六	じゅうろく
17	十七	じゅうしち or じゅうなな
18	十八	じゅうはち
19	十九	じゅうきゅう or じゅうく

 

Number 20 to 30

After 10, the pattern repeats, adding じゅう before all of the numbers up to next 10s.

English	Kanji	Hiragana
21	二十一	にじゅういち
22	二十二	にじゅうに
23	二十三	にじゅうさん
24	二十四	にじゅうし or にじゅうよん
25	二十五	にじゅうご
26	二十六	にじゅうろく
27	二十七	にじゅうしち or にじゅうなな
28	二十八	にじゅうはち
29	二十九	にじゅうきゅう or にじゅうく
30	三十	さんじゅう

 

Number 10 to 90

This pattern is repeated until 99, where at 100, a new character is introduced.

English	Kanji	Hiragana
10	十	じゅう
20	二十	にじゅう
30	三十	さんじゅう
40	四十	よんじゅう or しじゅう
50	五十	ごじゅう
60	六十	ろくじゅう
70	七十	ななじゅう or しちじゅう
80	八十	はちじゅう
90	九十	きゅうじゅう

 

Over 100

There are special characters for some numbers

English	Kanji	Hiragana
100	百	ひゃく
1,000	千	せん
10,000	万	まん
100,000,000	億	おく
1,000,000,000,000	兆	ちょう
10,000,000,000,000,000	京	けい

 

After 100, certain pronunciations change slightly, however all of the values of 1-99 have the same pronunciations as before. For example, 432 would be 四百三十二 or よんひゃくさんじゅうに. The value for 1000 is 千 or せん with the pronunciation pattern repeating again. For example, 5138 would be 五千百三十八 or ごせんひゃくさんじゅうはち.

 

• 0 (Zero) in Japanese is generally 零（れい）or ゼロ.
• Negative Numbers: Say マイナス followed by the number normally.
• Decimals: Generally, you would say ゼロ or 零 followed by 点（てん）which represents the decimal point. After the decimal point, read each digit as its own number. So 0.013 would be read as 零点零一三 （れいてんれいいちさん） OR ゼロ点ゼロ一三　（ゼロてんゼロいちさん）

 

Japanese language uses “Hiragana”, “Katakana”, “Romaji” and “Kanji” in writing.

日本語（にほんご）は、「ひらがな」「カタカナ」「ローマ字（じ）」「漢字（かんじ）」を使（つか）って書（か）きます。

The first three writing are phonetic representation and “Kanji” is Japanese adaptation of traditional Chinese characters.

「ひらがな」「カタカナ」「ローマ字（じ）は発音（はつおん）で、「漢字（かんじ）」は古（ふる）い中国語（ちゅうごくご）を取（と）り入（い）れたものです。

 

Hiragana / ひらがな

Hiragana is the first of the three Japanese alphabets to learn. Hiragana is a phonetic alphabet, where each character represents a syllable. Hiragana is generally the first of the alphabets used, and is used for many purposes. Until one broadens their knowledge of kanji, they can use hiragana in place of the kanji they don’t know. Additionally, hiragana is used as particles, and is also used as accompanying characters to verbs, called okurigana. There are also some words that do not have kanji and are thus written in hiragana alone.

 

n	w-	r-	y-	m-	h-	n-	t-	s-	k-
ん	わ	ら	や	ま	は	な	た	さ	か	あ	a
	ゐ	り		み	ひ	に	ち	し	き	い	i
		る	ゆ	む	ふ	ぬ	つ	す	く	う	u
	ゑ	れ		め	へ	ね	て	せ	け	え	e
	を	ろ	よ	も	ほ	の	と	そ	こ	お	o

 

Extended Consonant Syllables

p-	b-	d-	z-	g-
ぱ	ば	だ	ざ	が	-a
ぴ	び	ぢ	じ	ぎ	-i
ぷ	ぶ	づ	ず	ぐ	-u
ぺ	べ	ぜ	で	げ	-e
ぽ	ぼ	ど	ぞ	ご	-o

 

Modified Syllables: Consonant combined with ‘ya,’ ‘yu,’ or ‘yo’

p-	d-	j-	g-	r-	m-	h-	n-	ch-	sh-	k-
ぴゃ	びゃ	じゃ	ぎゃ	りゃ	みゃ	ひゃ	にゃ	ちゃ	しゃ	きゃ	-ya
ぴゅ	びゅ	じゅ	ぎゅ	りゅ	みゅ	ひゅ	にゅ	ちゅ	しゅ	きゅ	-yu
ぴょ	びょ	じょ	ぎょ	りょ	みょ	ひょ	にょ	ちょ	しょ	きょ	-yo

 

Long Vowels

oo	ee	uu	ii	aa
おお	ええ	うう	いい	ああ

 

Note: Double Consonants: kk, pp, tt, etc. are expressed in hiragana as a small “tsu” (っ) before the kana. For example, chotto meaning “a little” is written as ちょっと.

 

Katakana / カタカナ

Katakana is the second phonetic Japanese alphabet. Katakana, unlike hiragana is written with straight lines. Generally, katakana is used for writing words of foreign origin.

 

n	w-	r-	y-	m-	h-	n-	t-	s-	k-
ン	ワ	ラ	ヤ	マ	ハ	ナ	タ	サ	カ	ア	a
		リ		ミ	ヒ	ニ	チ	シ	キ	イ	i
		ル	ユ	ム	フ	ヌ	ツ	ス	ク	ウ	u
		レ		メ	ヘ	ネ	テ	セ	ケ	エ	e
	ヲ	ロ	ヨ	モ	ホ	ノ	ト	ソ	コ	オ	o

 

Extended Consonant Syllables

p-	b-	d-	z-	g-
パ	バ	ダ	ザ	ガ	-a
ピ	ビ	ヂ	ジ	ギ	-i
プ	ブ	ヅ	ズ	グ	-u
ペ	ベ	デ	ゼ	ゲ	-e
ポ	ボ	ド	ゾ	ゴ	-o

 

Modified Syllables: Consonant combined with ‘ya,’ ‘yu,’ or ‘yo’

p-	d-	j-	g-	r-	m-	h-	n-	ch-	sh-	k-
ピャ	ビャ	ジャ	ギャ	リャ	ミャ	ヒャ	ニャ	チャ	シャ	キャ	-ya
ピュ	ビュ	ジュ	ギュ	リュ	ミュ	ヒュ	ニュ	チュ	シュ	キュ	-yu
ピョ	ビョ	ジョ	ギョ	リョ	ミョ	ヒョ	ニョ	チョ	ショ	キョ	-yo

 

Long Vowels

oo	ee	uu	ii	aa
オー	エー	ウー	イー	アー

 

Note: Double Consonants: kk, pp, tt, etc. are expressed in katakana as a small “tsu” (ッ) before the kana For example, shotto, meaning “shot” is written as ショット.

 

There are small versions of “ア,” “イ,” “ウ,” “エ,” and “オ” that are “ァ,” “ィ,” “ゥ,” “ェ,” and “ォ.” These are used in conjunction with some other characters to create characters for sounds that were not originally covered by the original set of hiragana/katakana.

 

• “ti” and “tu” sounds now commonly written as “ティ,” and “トゥ.”
• “di” and “du” sounds, are now commonly written as “ディ,” and “ドゥ.”
• Combining the small “ァ,” “ィ,” “ゥ,” “ェ,” and “ォ” with “フ,” gives character combinations “ファ,” “フィ,” “フェ,” and “フォ” for “fa,” “fi,” “fe,” and “fo” respectively.
• “wi,” “we,” and “wo” are written as “ウィ,” “ウェ,” and “ウォ.”
• As the “v-“sound did not originally exist, the “ヴ” character was created to provide that sound. Now, “va,” “vi,” “vu,” “ve,” and “vo” can be written as “ヴァ,” “ヴィ,” “ヴ,” “ヴェ,” and “ヴォ” respectively.
• For “je,” “she,” and “che,” “ジェ,” “シェ,” and “チェ”are used for them respectively.

   

 

Romaji

Romaji is the writing of Japanese phonetic characters as Roman letters. Sometimes it helps with pronunciation of words when learning Japanese.

 

n	w-	r-	y-	m-	h-	n-	t-	s-	k-
n	wa	ra	ya	ma	ha	na	ta	sa	ka	a	a
		ri		mi	hi	ni	chi	shi	ki	i	i
		ru	yu	mu	fu	nu	tsu	su	ku	u	u
		re		me	he	ne	te	se	ke	e	e
	wo	ro	yo	mo	ho	no	to	so	ko	o	o

 

Extended Consonant Syllables

p-	b-	d-	z-	g-
pa	ba	da	za	ga	-a
pi	bi	di	ji	gi	-i
pu	bu	du	zu	gu	-u
pe	be	de	ze	ge	-e
po	bo	do	zo	go	-o

 

Modified Syllables: Consonant combined with ‘ya,’ ‘yu,’ or ‘yo’

p-	d-	j-	g-	r-	m-	h-	n-	ch-	sh-	k-
pya	bya	jya	gya	rya	mya	hya	nya	cya	sya	kya	-ya
pyu	byu	jyu	gyu	ryu	myu	hyu	nyu	cyu	syu	kyu	-yu
pyo	byo	jyo	gyo	ryo	myu	hyo	nyu	cyo	syo	kyo	-yo

 

Long Vowels

oo	ee	uu	ii	aa
o-	e-	u-	i-	a-

 

Kanji / 漢字（かんじ）

Kanji are the characters that were imported from China. Each kanji character generally has two readings – an onnyomi or音読み (おんよみ), which is the original Chinese reading of the character, and the kunnyomi or 訓読み (くんよみ), which is the Japanese adaptation of the character. Something to note is that characters can have more than one 音読み or 訓読み or both.

 

Punctuation

English	.	,	“	“
Japanese	。	、	「	」

The symbols for punctuation look slightly different in Japanese compared to English.

 

Here are some of the things you should know when you are traveling to Japan.

 

> Telephone Numbers / Emergency

 

There are two different phone numbers to reach Fire Department and Police Department.

• Fire and Ambulance 119
• Police 110
• English Japan Helpline Sevice 0570-000-911

 

Other numbers

• Time 117
• Weather 177
• Telephone Assistance 104

 

> Cash vs Credit Card

 

Cash is king in Japan. There are many places, especially small restaurants, that do not take credit card. Be sure to carry cash in Japan. Followng denominations are available in Japan.

• 10,000 Yen Bill
• 5,000 Yen Bill
• 2,000 Yen Bill (rare)
• 1,000 Yen Bill
• 500 Yen Coin
• 100 Yen Coin
• 50 Yen Coin
• 5 Yen Coin
• 1 Yen Coin

 

> Electric Plugs

 

The voltage in Japan is 100 Volts. Most appliances that can be used in the US will work in Japan. However if you are from the countries that use 220 Volts, you need to get an adapter.

 

> Tipping / Service Charges

 

Some restaurants and hotels add service charges to the bill however you do not need to tip anything above what it is in your bill. However, there are some taxes that were added to the original price but they are usually already included in the price.