101 Japanese Nouns: Cases, Conjugations, and a List of Common Nouns

68

When learning a language, it’s important to understand the components that make it up, like essential Japanese parts of speech called meishi (名詞), or Japanese nouns.

This article introduces important grammar points related to nouns in Japanese, along with a list of 101 of the most common Japanese nouns. 

Polite prefixes for Japanese nouns

If you’re familiar with Japanese honorifics, you know that showing respect is especially important in Japanese culture. This courtesy is not only shown to people but to certain nouns!

The two polite prefixes that go in front of Japanese nouns are お (o) and ご (go).

There’s no definitive rule for whether you use o or go with a particular noun, but there is a general pattern. A one-kanji word often uses o and a two-kanji word often uses go. You can see this respectively in the words お水 (o-mizu; water) and ご住所 (go-jūsho; address).

Some words almost always include the polite suffix. This is important with the word for money: o-kane (お金). 

Another thing to consider is whether you’re referring to something related to you or someone else. You never use the polite suffix for yourself, as that would come across as arrogant. However, it’s good manners to use the polite suffix for other people, such as when asking someone’s name with o-namae (お名前).

Conjugations of Japanese nouns

Japanese verb conjugations are more abundant and overall more intuitive since we also have verb conjugations in English, like past tense and present participles (when a verb ends with -ing). 

Japanese adjectives and nouns also require conjugations to express ideas like “it was…” and “it is not…” If you know the rules for conjugating na-adjectives, you actually already know how to conjugate nouns in Japanese!

Since nouns don’t have a consistent ending sound, there’s no pattern for changing the ending (unlike with verbs and i-adjectives). Instead, something is simply attached to the noun.

Here are the most common noun conjugations:

Japanese nouns that become verbs

One of the most frequently used verbs in Japanese is suru, meaning “to do.” Not only does it have a broad definition, but it can be paired with a variety of nouns to create new verbs! These pairs [noun + suru] are commonly referred to as suru verbs.

When conjugating suru verbs, only the suru part is affected and the noun is untouched. As suru is an irregular verb, its conjugations often look different from the original word.

We’ll demonstrate with the noun ryōri (料理), meaning “cooking,” which becomes “to cook” as a suru verb. Here are examples where suru is added, and then conjugated into different forms:

Do Japanese nouns have different cases?

Some languages convey relationships between nouns in a sentence through different noun cases. For example, cases can indicate whether a noun is a subject, a direct object, an indirect object, or if it’s possessive. One language known for having noun cases is German, with four cases.

While noun cases in English are uncommon, they’re present in pronouns. “I” is a subject, “me” is a direct or indirect object, and “my/mine” is possessive.   

However, Japanese doesn’t have noun cases, which means no words get altered to clarify the role of a noun in a sentence. Instead, that information is expressed through particles in Japanese. 

• The particles は (wa) and が (ga) are placed after a subject.
• The particle を (o) is placed after a direct object.
• The particle の (no) indicates possession.

In sentences where someone is directing an action at someone/something else, the particle は (wa) or が (ga) marks the subject, and に (ni) marks the indirect object. For example:

• Tanaka-san wa Yamada-san ni agemashita. (田中さんは山田さんにあげました。) = Mr. Tanaka gave [it] to Mr. Yamada.

While the following sentence sounds unnatural to English speakers, it means the same as the previous sentence:

• Yamada-san ni Tanaka-san ga agemashita. (山田さんに田中さんがあげました。) = To Mr. Yamada, Mr. Tanaka gave [it].

You can remove the subject or the indirect object and, just based on the particles used, still figure out if someone is the giver or receiver:

• Tanaka-san ga agemashita. (田中さんがあげました。) = Mr. Tanaka gave [it].
• Yamada-san ni agemashita. (山田さんにあげました。) = (Someone) gave [it] to Mr. Yamada.

Plural Japanese nouns

In English, it’s almost always apparent if the noun is singular or plural. Most often this is determined by whether there’s an “s” at the end of a word. 

A few cases exist in English where singular and plural forms look the same, but the addition of a word such as “a” or “the” can clarify the status. (An example would be the difference between “I see a fish” and “I see fish.”) These kinds of words are called “articles,” and languages like Spanish have definite and indefinite articles for this reason.

However, Japanese neither changes the form of the word nor includes articles. The vast majority of Japanese nouns by default are ambiguous as to whether they’re singular or plural. For example, neko could mean “cat” or “cats.”

There are rare nouns in Japanese that are plural by nature. This includes words like hitobito (人々) meaning “people” and kuniguni (国々) meaning “countries.” However, besides proper nouns, no inherently singular nouns exist in Japanese. 

If you want to make a noun explicitly plural, you can attach a suffix. The most generally applicable one is ~tachi (~達). You could translate ~tachi as “a group including [noun].”

Mostly, though, Japanese people don’t rely on these special nouns or suffixes to determine if a noun is singular or plural. They either infer from context, or say the exact number using a Japanese counter. Counters are regularly used with Japanese nouns, as they’re necessary any time you want to specify amounts.

Japanese nouns list

The farther you go in your Japanese learning journey, the more important it is to build up your vocabulary. These 101 common Japanese nouns will help you communicate everyday ideas.

If you’d like to quickly learn more Japanese nouns with an English twist, take a look at our list of 280 Japanese loanwords derived from English.

Japanese nouns for food and drink

One of the main ways people connect is through food. Talking about food and learning how to order food in Japanese are great places to start mastering the language!

Japanese nouns for people

Outside of general conversation, it’s useful to know terms for describing people when buying tickets for activities and events like museums and theme parks. This is because kodomo prices, otona prices, and even gakusei prices can vary.

Japanese nouns for animals

Japan is known for loving cute things, hence all the cute Japanese words and why its animal cafes are so popular. Neko cafes are the most common, but there are inu cafes and even kapibara (カピバラ; capybara) cafes!

Japanese nouns for nature

There are countless beautiful sights to appreciate in Japan! Many destinations reference nature in their names, such as Yamanashi prefecture, where fujisan (富士山; Mt. Fuji) is located.

Japanese nouns for transportation and navigation

One of the most important things to be prepared for when visiting another country is finding your way around. While it can take some getting used to, the train system in Japan is indispensable.

Japanese nouns for locations

Japan, or nihon, is a wonderful place to explore. Whether you’re currently navigating or relaying your travels, you’ll want to be able to describe basic locations.

*Besides basho, another word for location is tokoro. However, tokoro is also used in other contexts (such as the phrase tokoro de meaning “by the way”), which makes it more ambiguous. 

Japanese nouns for time

For making plans for travel or with friends, it’s crucial to know how to express time. Knowing time phrases is also fundamental for sharing anecdotes, which is a great skill for Japanese conversations.

Japanese nouns for weather

Summer is the peak tourist season, but it’s also when the season of ame comes! Be sure to bring a kasa!

Japanese nouns for hobbies and vacation

Talking about hobbies is a great way to connect with people. Japanese people often get excited when travelers know about famous Japanese works and creators!

Japanese nouns for shopping

Many things draw visitors to Japan, including delicious food and beautiful sights. Shopping is another thing Japanese culture enjoys. If you’d like to take advantage of the deals, try using recommended Japanese travel phrases.

Japanese nouns focused on language skills

As a foreign language learner, you’ll find that the topic of language learning itself comes up frequently! People will be happy to share tips, and these words can help you understand their advice. 

The word hantai, or “opposite,” is a practical term for expanding your vocabulary! Also, if you forget a word, you may remember its hantai and still be able to communicate fairly smoothly.

Japanese nouns that become suru verbs

Suru verbs are combinations of [noun + suru]. They are convenient for Japanese learners, as you can basically double your vocabulary by learning a single noun! 

If you’re unsure how to say a specific verb in Japanese, sometimes you can take a loan word, try changing it into a suru verb, and be perfectly understood! For example, gēmu suru means “to play games.”

When meeting a group of Japanese people for the first time, you’re sure to be asked to give a jikoshōkai (自己紹介; self-introduction). It’s a great idea to prepare what you’ll say, including your shigoto (仕事; job) and shumi (趣味; hobbies).

The suru verb versions of these nouns would become the following:

• ryokō suru = to travel
• junbi suru = to prepare
• keiken suru = to experience
• kaimono suru = to go shopping
• denwa suru = to make a phone call
• hanashi o suru = to tell a story/to talk
• shōkai suru = to introduce
• shigoto suru = to work
• kaigi suru = to hold a meeting
• ryōri suru = to cook
• chūmon suru = to order (food/drink)
• renshū suru = to practice
• shitsumon suru = to ask a question 

Go Beyond Japanese Nouns With Rosetta Stone

There are many interesting nuances to Japanese nouns, such as using honorifics, particles, and counters. But even if you don’t know all the rules, you can quickly start using everyday nouns in Japanese to begin communicating in meaningful ways.

When learning Japanese, many of your early kotoba will be nouns, and you’ll be tested on your hatsuon as you go! With Rosetta Stone, you start learning a language with basic building blocks and bite-sized lessons, all using a Dynamic Immersion learning method that’s ideal for internalizing a language without rote memorization.