10 Useful Japanese Verbs!
Marie Moore
Planning to make a trip to Japan to eat all these delicious Japanese snacks? Or to visit Tokyo Disney resort? We know many of our Japanese candy box subscribers love Japan and Japanese culture so want to study the language too! Or many want to study up a bit before visiting, so we here at TokyoTreat have compiled a list of 10 useful Japanese verbs with example sentences which we think beginners will find useful!
1. 食べる (Taberu) – To eat. Example sentence 私はケーキを食べる(Watashi wa keeki o taberu) literally “I will eat cake!” Of course the most important verb to know! To eat!! We hope you’ll get some use out of this one~
2. 見る(Miru) – To watch. Example sentence 私は映画を見る(Watashi wa eiga o miru) “I will watch a movie.” You can use this verb to express watching or also having seen something.
3. 寝る(Neru) – To sleep. Example sentence 普段12時に寝る(Fudan juuniji ni neru) “I usually got to sleep at 12 o’clock.” Also a very important verb! Apart from eating Japanese snacks our favourite past time here at TokyoTreat is sleeping!
4.勉強する(Benkyou suru) – To study. Example sentence 私は日本語を勉強する(Watashi wa nihongo o benkyou suru) “I will study Japanese.” A useful verb so that you can tell your friends and family all about your Japanese study adventure!
5.読む(Yomu) – To read. Example sentence 私は本を読む(Watashi wa hon o yomu) “I will read a book.” A very simple verb and phrase, you can replace hon(book) with anything like Harry Potter or TokyoTreat’s booklet!
6.飲む(Nomu) – To drink. Example sentence 今日ビールを飲む(Kyou biiru o nomu) “Today I’ll drink beer.” Not to be confused with the previous very similar sounding verb, though even we mix them up sometimes!
7. 歩く(Aruku) – To walk. Example sentence 私は外に歩く(Watashi wa soto ni aruku) “I will walk outside.” A perfect verb to know for those who enjoy a stroll outside!
8.座る(Suwaru) – To sit. Example sentence あそこに座る(Asoko ni suwaru) “I will sit over there.” And here’s a verb for those who don’t enjoy walking so much!
9. 聞く(Kiku) – To hear/listen. Example sentence 彼の言うことを聞く(Kare no iukoto o kiku) “I’ll listen to what he has to say.” Another verb for everyday use, kiku can actually also mean ask but then the kanji changes!
10. 死ぬ(Shinu) – To die. Example sentence 死ぬほど好き(Shinu hodo suki) “I like it (it) so much I’ll die!” We hope that you’ll only need this verb for describing your love of your TokyoTreat Japanese snack box and not for any other morbid reasons!!!
What do you think of the verbs we chose? Are they easy to remember and useful? Were the examples easy to understand? Are there any verbs you think we should’ve included? Let us know in the comments!
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