Japanese Versatility List
The words, endings and patterns that work in almost any conversation. Casual form first, with the polite form beside it.
484 items in 113 chunks of 3 to 6, ordered into four stages. Each chunk is a short page; work through a stage in order with Next at the bottom of each page. Each stage mixes every category, so each one adds new kinds of things you can say.
Stages
Section titled “Stages”Stage 1 · 115 itemsGreet, thank and apologise, ask what, who and where, and say what you do, have and where you're going today or did yesterday, linked with but and because.
Stage 2 · 128 itemsAsk favours, say what you want, like, saw, know, said and think, react with e?, hee and sou, and say how often and how soon things happen.
Stage 3 · 126 itemsCheck things with someone, guess and make plans and choices, talk about food, mood and difficulty, use fillers to hold the floor, and say how sure you are.
Stage 4 · 115 itemsSuggest things, pass on what you heard or what seems true, compare, soften what you say and give advice, and talk about before, after and until.
Collocations
Section titled “Collocations”Collocations · 405 setsThe noun and verb sets Japanese speakers use together all the time, like rain falls (ame ga furu) and open the door (doa o akeru), chosen by how common and typical they are. Four stages, learned alongside the ones above.
Idioms
Section titled “Idioms”Idioms · 365 idiomsThe Japanese idioms people say most, like atama ni kuru (I'm furious) and saba o yomu (fudge the numbers), plus the sayings and four-character phrases heard in everyday talk. Four stages, learned alongside the ones above.
More lists
Section titled “More lists”Core words · 1204 wordsThe everyday verbs, nouns, adjectives and adverbs the other lists don’t teach, ordered by how much they help you keep a conversation going.
Word sets · 381 wordsNumbers, counters, days, dates, months, clock time, colours, family, body parts, positions and pronouns: the closed sets you learn whole.
Conversation phrases · 765 phrasesGetting to know someone, small talk and saying what you think, then the reactions, follow-ups and story glue that keep a chat going.
Conjugations · 123 forms and patternsEvery verb and adjective form a conversation needs, with tables built by rule and how often each is heard, plus the grammar patterns that attach to them.
Categories
Section titled “Categories”Time & sequence · 62 itemsRelative time, aspect/timing adverbs, frequency, time clauses.
Degree, amount & limits · 29 itemsIntensity, comparison, totality, limiting/approximating.
Stance, attitude & manner · 30 itemsHow the speaker feels about what they say; manner adverbs.
Versatile adjectives · 57 itemsI-/na-adjectives that apply across almost any topic.
Connectors & conditionals · 33 itemsWhat links one idea to the next.
Sentence endings & intent · 44 itemsSentence-final particles, certainty/evidence, suggestions, requests.
Responses, reactions, fillers & social phrases · 59 itemsWhat you say on its own or to keep a conversation going.
General verbs · 69 itemsHighest-reach verbs; casual = dictionary form, polite = masu form.
Grammar patterns as vocabulary · 43 itemsAttachments bolted onto any verb or adjective.
Pointing, question & people words · 58 itemsKo/so/a/do series, question words, indefinites, pronouns.
Reading an entry
Section titled “Reading an entry”- Romaji first. The large word is the casual form, the one to learn first. The smaller word marked polite is its desu/masu form, for coworkers, shop staff and strangers.
- #150 is the word’s rank among the most frequent words in 3,030 Japanese TV dramas. Lower means more common. An asterisk means the counting tool splits that form, so the rank is approximate.
- Tags such as masculine, slang or + negative tell you who says it or what it needs.
- Each item shows what it does, a casual and a polite example sentence, notes on mix-ups, and what to learn first. Play reads the Japanese aloud when your browser has a Japanese voice.
- Search (top of the page) finds a romaji, English or Japanese word across every page.
How it was built
Section titled “How it was built”A 75-agent workflow gathered candidates for ten categories and ranked each one with real spoken frequency data. It then hunted for gaps and had three independent judges pick the list. Every entry was written up and checked three ways: whether a native speaker would say it, whether the meaning is right, and whether the romaji and grammar are correct. A second review of the 621 cut candidates brought 60 back. The Cuts pages show the rest, with the reason for each.
Romaji follows kotoba’s spelling: no macrons, long vowels written out (sou, daijoubu, kotchi). The full data is available as 20-list-versatile.json. Frequency ranks come from jiten.moe (CC BY-SA 4.0).