A List of Verbs 1

I will begin a new set of posts every here and there just providing Japanese words. As I need an organized way of growing and adding vocabulary, I will post words, their kanji, and meaning, and I will also attach a picture that includes them for easier studying. If you ever forget a word and want to search for which post has the word, you can just use the search function.

This list includes some useful verbs to know.

Verb	Kanji	Romaji	Meaning
いく	行く	iku	to go
かえる	帰る	kaeru	to return
きく	聞く	kiku	to listen; to hear
のむ	飲む	nomu	to drink
はなす	話す	hanasu	to speak; to talk
よむ	読む	yomu	to read
あう	会う	au	to meet; to see (a person)
ある	-	aru	there is; there exists; to be (inanimate)
かう	買う	kau	to buy
かく	書く	kaku	to write
とる	採る	toru	to take (pictures)
まつ	待つ	matsu	to wait
わかる	分かる	wakaru	to understand
おきる	起きる	okiru	to get up
たべる	食べる	taberu	to eat
ねる	寝る	neru	to sleep
みる	見る	miru	to look; to see; to watch
いる	-	iru	there is; there exists; to be (animate)
くる	来る	kuru	to come
する	-	suru	to do
べんきょうする	勉強する	benkyousuru	to study

I recommend you save this picture and use it to study.

A few things to note:

- The verb ある is for inanimate (nonliving) things whereas いる is for animate (living) things. For example, if you say you have an apple, you would use ある (りんごがあります = ringo ga arimasu). If you say that you have a cat, you would use いる (ねこがいます = neko ga imasu). To use ある for living things would mean they are dead, and it is not considered grammatically correct.

-Not all verbs have kanji, such as ある, いる and する. They are usually written in kana alone. On the other hand, some verbs may have more than one acceptable kanji, such as あう (会う and 逢う).

-A lot of verbs will consist of a word, usually a noun, with する (to do) attached to it, such as べんきょうする (to study). べんきょう by itself means study, but by adding する to it, it becomes a verb.

-The particles I list is to help you as a beginner, and are not particularly the only particles that can be used for that verb. Practice these particles and remember which ones are properly used for each verb.