Anki Friend

あげる — give (receiver is not in the speaker’s group)

Example

友達にプレゼントをあげます。

I will give a present to my friend.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 4d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

あの — that one there

Example

あの本ですか。

That book (over there)?

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 5d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

あまり — (not) very, (not) much

Example

スポーツはあまり好きじゃありません。

I don’t really like sports.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 4
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 9d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

いいえ — no (polite)

Example

A「山田さんですか。」
B「いいえ。」

A: Are you Yamada-san? B: No, I’m not.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 5d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

いつ — when

Example

彼女はいつ来ますか。

When is she coming?

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 5d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

おねがいします — please

Example

A「これでお願いします。」
B「はい。」

A: This one, please. B: Okay.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 4
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 5d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

ください — please give…, please do…

Example

コーヒーをください。

Please give me a coffee.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 5d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

こう — like this, this kind of

Example

こうしましょう。

Let’s do this (“this way”).

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 5d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

この — this one

Example

山田さんの本はどれですか。この本ですか。

Which book is Yamada-san’s? Is it this book?

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 5d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

そう — in such manner, that way

Example

私もそう思います。

That’s what I think too.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 4d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

ちゃん — chan

Example

彼女はララちゃんです。

She is Lara-chan.

Notes

Honorific usually used to show endearment, especially with girls and small children.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 5d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

ちょっと — a little

Example

これはちょっと高いですね。

This is a little expensive.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 5d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

どこ — where

Example

あの本をどこに置きましたか。

Where did you put that book?

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 5d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

どの — which one

Example

どの本ですか。

Which book is it?

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 5d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

はい — yes (polite)

Example

A「山田さんですか。」
B「はい。」

A: Are you Yamada-san? B: Yes, I am.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 4d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

もう — already, yet

Example

彼はもう帰りました。

He’s already gone home.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 3d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

もう — another, again

Example

もうちょっと食べたい。

I want to eat a little more.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 5d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

もっと — more, a bit more

Example

もっと勉強しなければいけないと思った。

I thought that I would have to study more.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 3
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 3d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

いちばん — (the) most

Example

これがこの町で一番高いビルです。

This is the tallest building in this town.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 5d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

なか — inside, middle

Example

父は家の中にいます。

My father is inside the house.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 4
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 5d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

いま — now

Example

彼は今、勉強しています。

He’s studying now.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 5d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

せんせい — teacher

Example

私は日本語の先生になりたいです。

I want to become a Japanese teacher.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 3
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 5d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

わかる — understand

Example

日本語のニュースが全然分かりませんでした。

I didn’t understand the Japanese news at all.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 4
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 5d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

まえ — front, before

Example

ララちゃんは家の前に立っています。

Lara-chan is standing in front of the house.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 3
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 3d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

ともだち — friend, companion

Example

友達とレストランに行きました。

I went to the restaurant with my friend.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 3
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 3d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

おおきな — big, large

Example

大きな家に住みたい。

I want to live in a big house.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 4d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

だいすき — love

Example

私は父が大好きです。

I love my father.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 5d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

がっこう — school

Example

学校は日本にあります。

The school is in Japan.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 3
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 6d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

かのじょ — she, her, girlfriend

Example

彼女の名前を知っていますか。

Do you know her name?

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 4d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

まつ — wait

Example

1時間友達を待ちました。

I waited for my friend for an hour.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 3
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 3d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

にほん — Japan

Example

日本のゲームは面白いです。

Japanese games are fun.

Notes

Can be read either にほん or にっぽん.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 5d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

くる — come

Example

明日、来ますか。

Will you come tomorrow?

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 3
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 5d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

はは — (speaker’s) mother

Example

昨日、母と話をしました。

I talked to my mother yesterday.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 3d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

ちち — (speaker’s) father

Example

私は父が大好きです。

I love my father.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 3d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

もの — thing, object

Example

色々な物をもらいました。

I received many things.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 6
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 5d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

まち — town, city

Example

あの町に行きました。

I went to that town over there.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 3
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 3d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

たつ — stand, rise

Example

彼はステージに立った。

He stood on stage.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 5d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

はなす — talk, speak

Example

先生と日本語で話します。

I speak Japanese with the teacher.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 3
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 5d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

たかい — expensive

Example

このカメラは高いですね。

This camera is expensive.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 5d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

Keyword: one

Story

One down, 2041 to go. ;).

To learn this one kanji, I recommend (#2000) this story : Bambi is in a cave, eating a side-dish of salad when trying to learn the kanjis. As he succeed to learn the kanji for “one”, you get jealous and decide to shoot him with a slingshot. At this moment you hear the police coming, so you hurriedly burn all the proofs into a fire (so you remove the key-words Bambi, slingshot and fire from recommend). So that when the police arrives, the only remaining clue is a single horizontal bar.

Primitive

As a primitive element, the key-word meaning is discarded, since it is too abstract to be of much help. Instead, the single horizontal stroke takes on the meaning of floor or ceiling, depending on its position: if it stands above another primitive, it means ceiling; if below, floor.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 4d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

Keyword: seven

Story

This kanji is our good old seven, turned upside down.

I wrote it upside down so I crossed it out.

Primitive

As a primitive, this form takes on the meaning of diced, i.e., “cut” into little pieces, consistent both with the way the character is written and with its association with the kanji for cut (切) to be learned in a later lesson

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 3d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

Keyword: generation

Meanings: world, society, public

Story

3 tens = generation.

They SAY a generation is ten+ten+ten years, with the big first ten providing a grounding, and the next ten providing a little more grounding for the final ten. But I wish the next generation didn’t always SAY “yo!”. (ON reading is SEI, KUN reading is yo).

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 3d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

Keyword: walking stick

Primitive

This primitive element is a picture of just what it looks like: a cane or walking stick. It carries with it the connotations of lameness and whatever else one associates with the use of a cane. Rarely—but very rarely—it will be laid on its side. Whenever this occurs, it will always be driven through the middle of some other primitive element. In this way, you need not worry about confusing it with the primitive meanings of one.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 1
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 3d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

Keyword: in

Meanings: inside, middle, mean, center

Story

Pocky goes in the mouth.

My GF lets me come in her mouth (pictogram).

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 1
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 4d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

Keyword: a drop of

Primitive

The meaning of this primitive is obvious from the first moment you look at it, though just what it will be a drop of will differ from case to case. The important thing is not to think of it as something insignificant like a “drop in the bucket” but as something so important that it can change the whole picture—like a drop of arsenic in your mother-in-law’s coffee.

In general, it is written from right to left, but there are times when it can be slanted left to right. At other times it can be stretched out a bit. (In cases where you have trouble remembering this, it may help to think of it as an eyedropper dripping drops of something or other.)

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 1
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 4d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

Keyword: two

Story

Two lines.

Roman numeral II, written on its side.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 3d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

Keyword: ten

Story

Two needles crossing marks the spot, or you can use the Roman character for ten (rotated 45 degrees).

I scared away ten vampires with a single cross!

Primitive

As a primitive, this character sometimes keeps its meaning of ten and sometimes signifies needle, this latter derived from the kanji for needle (針).

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 5d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

Keyword: mouth

Story

Looks like a huge open mouth.

Momma used to say: “Keep your trap shut!” This thing is shaped like a trap door.

Primitive

As a primitive, this form also means mouth. Any of the range of possible images that the word suggests—an opening or entrance to a cave, a river, a bottle, or even the largest hole in your head—can be used for the primitive meaning.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 3d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

Keyword: old

Story

Tombstone and cross on an old man’s grave.

You get OLD fast if you have ten open mouths to feed.

Primitive

Used as a primitive element, this kanji keeps its key-word sense of old, but care should be taken to make that abstract notion as graphic as possible.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 1
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 3d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

Keyword: day

Meanings: sun, Japan

Story

Open the window, new day.

Picture two halves of a 24-hr period: Day & Night.

Primitive

Used as a primitive, this kanji can mean sun or day or a tongue wagging in the mouth. This latter meaning, incidentally, derives from an old character outside the standard list meaning something like “sayeth” and written almost exactly the same, except that the stroke in the middle does not touch the right side (曰).

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 5d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

Keyword: early

Meanings: fast

Story

The sun up is early, well before ten.

An early sun-flower looks like a miniature sun perched on a needlelike stems.

Primitive

As a primitive element, this kanji takes the meaning of sun-flower, which was used to make the abstract key word early more graphic.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 3d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

Keyword: bright

Meanings: light

Story

The sun makes the moon bright.

The sun and the moon are brightest objects in the day and night, respectively.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 3d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

Keyword: month

Meanings: moon

Story

A month is longer than a day.

Am I the only one who sees this as someone sticking their ass in the air “mooning” someone (two cheeks of the butt and the legs coming off of it)? The Moon meaning connects well to the meaning of month, considering that months were traditionally measured by the phases of the moon. Also, the mooning “ass” part of it connects well to Hesig’s seemingly unconnected “flesh” or “part of the body” meaning (when used in primitive form).

Primitive

As a primitive element, this character can take on the sense of moon, flesh, or part of the body. The reasons for the latter two meanings will be explained further on.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 3d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

Keyword: rice field

Meanings: rice paddy

Story

A rice field divided into four parts.

Ten people use their mouths to eat the yield of the rice fields.

Primitive

When used as a primitive element, the meaning of rice field is most common, but now and again it will take the meaning of brains from the fact that it looks a bit like that tangle of gray matter nestled under our skulls.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 5d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

Keyword: white

Story

A white ray is a drop of sun.

Even a small drop (’) of the sun (日) would make you see nothing but white.

Primitive

As a primitive, this character can either retain its meaning of white or take the more graphic meaning of a white bird or dove. This latter stems from the fact that it appears at the top of the kanji for bird, which we shall get to later.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 1
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 5d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

Keyword: hundred

Story

100 turned sideways. {sort of the same as what ashoksaraf said}.

That dirty ceiling was painted WHITE a hundred times!

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 1
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 4d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

Keyword: eye

Meanings: class, look, insight, experience, care, favor

Story

There are 3 sections. Imagine the outer two being the whites of your eye. The middle is the pupil. Fill it in with imaginary color.

目_目.

Primitive

As a primitive, the kanji keeps its sense of eye, or to be more specific, an eyeball. When placed in the surroundings of a complex kanji, the primitive will sometimes be turned on its side like this: 罒.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 2
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 3d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

Keyword: oneself

Story

Faced with his clone, our hero valiantly cut a mark on his forehead right above his eye so that his comrades could tell his true oneself from the enemy.

To use an eyedropper by oneself, aim from above to put a drop into the eye.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 1
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 4d
• Ease: 250%

Review History

あそこ — over there

Example

彼はあそこにいます。

He is over there.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 3
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 11d
• Ease: 265%

Review History

あなた — you (usually when one doesn’t know the person)

Example

あなたはトムさんですか。

Are you Tom-san?

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 3
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 12d
• Ease: 265%

Review History

ある — have, exist (inanimate)

Example

ペンがある。

There is a pen.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 3
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 16d
• Ease: 265%

Review History

いい — good

Example

あの人はいい人です。

That person is a good person.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 3
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 17d
• Ease: 265%

Review History

ここ — here

Example

ここに本があります。

There’s a book here.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 3
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 10d
• Ease: 265%

Review History

これ — this

Example

これは日本語の本です。

This is a Japanese book.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 3
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 16d
• Ease: 265%

Review History

さん — san

Example

あなたはトムさんですか。

Are you Tom-san?

Notes

Most commonplace neutral polite honorific. Somewhat similar to using “M.” in front of a name in English.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 3
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 9d
• Ease: 265%

Review History

する — do, make

Example

彼はテニスをします。

He plays tennis (lit: “He does tennis”).

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 3
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 12d
• Ease: 265%

Review History

そこ — there

Example

そこはトイレです。

There is the bathroom.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 3
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 13d
• Ease: 265%

Review History

その — that one

Example

その本ですか。

Is it that book?

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 3
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 15d
• Ease: 265%

Review History

それ — that

Example

それは本です。

That is a book.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 3
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 13d
• Ease: 265%

Review History

ひと — person

Example

あの人はいい人です。

That person is a good person.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 3
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 17d
• Ease: 265%

Review History

じん — person from (nationality)

Example

私はイギリス人です。

I am British.

Notes

A suffix added to a country name to say a person from that country.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 3
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 15d
• Ease: 265%

Review History

なに・なん — what

Example

A「これは何ですか。」
B「本です。」

A: What is this? B: It’s a book.

Notes

Can be read either なに or なん.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 3
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 11d
• Ease: 265%

Review History

かれ — he, him

Example

彼はトムさんです。

He is Tom-san.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 3
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 15d
• Ease: 265%

Review History

にほんご — Japanese language

Example

私は日本語を勉強しています。

I’m studying Japanese.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 3
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 12d
• Ease: 265%

Review History

わたし — I (polite, general)

Example

私はアンです。

I am Ann.

Notes

Can also be read わたくし (formal) and あたし (feminine). There are rarer readings too.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 3
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 10d
• Ease: 265%

Review History

いく — go

Example

学校へ行きます。

I will go to school.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 4
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 11d
• Ease: 265%

Review History

みる — see, look at

Example

兄は毎日テレビを見ます。

My older brother watches TV every day.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 3
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 12d
• Ease: 265%

Review History

はなし — talk, story

Example

あなたの話は面白いね。

Your story is interesting.

Progress

• Status: review
• Reviews: 4
• Lapses: 0
• Interval: 10d
• Ease: 265%

Review History