The short version: you do not need eighty verbs to speak Japanese. Twenty-five cover an ordinary day, and they are all N5. Learn them in the order you live them — wake, eat, go, buy, come home, sleep — and they stick, because the day itself becomes the memory hook.
Most verb lists are alphabetical, which is the one order in which nothing connects to anything. You learn 会います, then 開けます, then 遊びます, and by Thursday they have all quietly merged into a grey blur.
So here they are in the order you actually use them. One day, twenty-five verbs, each with a sentence short enough to say out loud right now.
7:00 · Morning毎朝７時に起きます。まいあさしちじにおきます。I get up at seven every morning.
シャワーを浴びます。シャワーをあびます。I take a shower.
コーヒーを飲みます。コーヒーをのみます。I drink coffee.
パンを食べます。パンをたべます。I eat bread.
シャツを着ます。シャツをきます。I put on a shirt.
８時に家を出ます。はちじにいえをでます。I leave the house at eight.
学校に行きます。がっこうにいきます。I go to school.
電車に乗ります。でんしゃにのります。I get on the train.
友だちも来ます。ともだちもきます。My friend is coming too.
駅で友だちに会います。えきでともだちにあいます。I meet my friend at the station.
会社で働きます。かいしゃではたらきます。I work at a company.
日本語を勉強します。にほんごをべんきょうします。I study Japanese.
本を読みます。ほんをよみます。I read a book.
名前を書きます。なまえをかきます。I write my name.
英語を話します。えいごをはなします。I speak English.
音楽を聞きます。おんがくをききます。I listen to music.
パソコンを使います。パソコンをつかいます。I use a computer.
ちょっと待ちます。ちょっとまちます。I'll wait a moment.
コンビニで買います。コンビニでかいます。I buy it at the convenience store.
６時に帰ります。ろくじにかえります。I go home at six.
晩ごはんを作ります。ばんごはんをつくります。I make dinner.
手を洗います。てをあらいます。I wash my hands.
テレビを見ます。テレビをみます。I watch television.
今日は休みます。きょうはやすみます。I'm taking today off.
１１時に寝ます。じゅういちじにねます。I go to bed at eleven.
The four endings that cover every N5 sentence
Once a verb is in ます form, you can say four different things by changing only the ending. No new vocabulary required.
| Ending | Meaning | Example | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| ～ます | do / will do | 食べます | I eat / I will eat |
| ～ません | do not | 食べません | I don't eat |
| ～ました | did | 食べました | I ate |
| ～ませんでした | did not | 食べませんでした | I didn't eat |
Only two verbs are irregular
This is the quiet good news of Japanese. English has hundreds of irregular verbs. Japanese has two.
| Dictionary form | ます form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| する | します | to do — and it joins nouns: 勉強します, 電話します, 買い物します |
| 来る | きます | to come — note the reading changes from く to き |
The one pair beginners mix up: あります and います
| Verb | Use it for | Example |
|---|---|---|
| います | People and animals (alive) | 犬がいます — there is a dog |
| あります | Objects, plants, events | 本があります — there is a book |
That is the whole rule: alive or not alive. Getting it right is one of the first things that makes a beginner sound accurate instead of approximate.
How to make these stick this week
The reason the day-order works is that you already have the sequence in your head. You do not have to remember twenty-five unrelated words — you have to remember your morning, and the verbs come attached to it.
1. Learn each verb inside a sentence. Every word in Kanjijo comes with real example sentences with furigana and native audio, so the particle arrives with the verb instead of being a separate thing to memorise.
2. Give each one a hook. Kanjijo writes an exclusive mnemonic for every kanji and every vocabulary word, so 働きます stops being a shape you half-recognise.
3. Let the SRS pick the moment. The SRS engine schedules each verb for the day before you would have lost it, and the home screen, lock screen and interactive test widgets put that review in front of you without opening the app.
4. Then use them out loud. The conversation, shadowing and dictation tracks turn recognition into speech — the step where a verb list finally becomes Japanese.
And the path continues when you are ready: full N5–N1 kanji, vocabulary and grammar banks, JLPT reading and JLPT listening practice, mock JLPT tests, and an OCR scanner for any Japanese you meet in the wild.
- Example sentences with audio
- Exclusive kanji & vocab mnemonics
- SRS spaced repetition
- Home & lock screen widgets
- Interactive test widget
- Full N5–N1 grammar bank
- JLPT reading practice
- JLPT listening practice
- Mock JLPT tests
- Conversation & shadowing
- Dictation training
- OCR scanner
Quick reference
- Morning
- 起きます · 浴びます · 飲みます · 食べます · 着ます · 出ます
- Travel
- 行きます · 乗ります · 来ます · 会います
- Day
- 働きます · 勉強します · 読みます · 書きます · 話します · 聞きます · 使います · 待ちます
- Evening
- 買います · 帰ります · 作ります · 洗います · 見ます · 休みます · 寝ます
- Four endings
- ます / ません / ました / ませんでした
- Only two irregulars
- する → します · 来る → きます
- Alive or not
- います for people and animals · あります for everything else
Related Reading on Kanjijo
Frequently Asked Questions
The N5 list has roughly 80 verbs, but a much smaller core does most of the work. About 25 cover an ordinary day — 起きます, 行きます, 食べます, 飲みます, 見ます, 聞きます, 買います, 帰ります, 寝ます and their neighbours. Learning that core first, inside short sentences, gets you speaking far faster than working alphabetically through a full list.
Both mean there is or to have, and the choice depends on whether the thing is alive. います is for people and animals: 犬がいます, 友だちがいます. あります is for objects, plants and events: 本があります, テストがあります. Getting this pair right is one of the first things that makes a beginner sound accurate rather than approximate.
う-verbs (group 1), る-verbs (group 2) and irregulars (group 3). る-verbs end in いる or える and simply drop る: 食べる → 食べます. う-verbs shift the final sound to the い row: 飲む → 飲みます, 行く → 行きます. There are only two irregular verbs in the entire language: する → します and 来る → きます.
Swap the ending on the ます form. ます is present or future, ません is negative, ました is past, ませんでした is past negative: 食べます, 食べません, 食べました, 食べませんでした. Four endings on one stem cover every basic N5 sentence.
In sentences. A verb alone gives recognition; a verb in a sentence gives you its particle for free, and particles are what most beginner mistakes are actually about — 学校に行きます takes に, パンを食べます takes を. Kanjijo therefore ships every vocabulary item with real example sentences carrying furigana and native audio, an exclusive mnemonic, and an SRS engine that returns each one just before you forget.
Twenty-five verbs is a week, not a year
Kanjijo teaches vocabulary the way it actually works: example sentences with furigana and audio, an exclusive mnemonic for every kanji and word, an SRS engine that reviews each card at the moment before you forget, and home, lock screen and interactive test widgets that keep them in front of you all day. Then the whole path — N5–N1 kanji, vocabulary and grammar, JLPT reading and listening practice, mock tests, conversation, shadowing, dictation and an OCR scanner. Free on iPhone.
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