JLPT N5 Kanji - Lesson 1
Updated: Feb 4, 2019
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こんにちは, everyone!
I hope you have all had sometime to review hiragana, because this lesson we are going to be getting into our first kanji!
Many of you may end up taking the JLPT (maybe you already have plans to), so I am going to be structuring these lessons according to the JLPT hierarchy.
If you don't know what the JLPT is it stands for Japanese Language Placement Test, so basically a test that tells you your Japanese level. It is broken up into 5 different levels, and you choose which level you want to take based on where you think your Japanese level is. Level 5 is the easiest, and level 1 is the hardest.
Disclaimer* Technically, there is no longer an official list for the JLPT, so we can not guarantee which kanji will and will not be on it. However, If you can memorize the kanji that we provide you, along with vocabulary and grammar, we believe that you can do well. How well you do is still completely up to you.
That being said, lets get into the lesson.
Today's Kanji: 一・二・三・四・五・六・七・八・九・十・百・千・万・円・月・火・水・ 木・ 金・土・日・曜
たんご：
一（いち）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ one
二（に）----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- two
三（さん）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ three
四（よん・し）-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- four
五（ご）----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- five
六（ろく）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ six
七（なな・しち）--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- seven
八（はち）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ eight
九（きゅう）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- nine
十（じゅう）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ten
百（ひゃく）-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- hundred
千（せん）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ thousand
万（まん）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ten thousand
円（えん）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ yen
月（つき）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ moon
日（ひ）----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- day/sun
水（みず）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ water
火（ひ）----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- fire
木（き）----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- wood
金（かね）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ money
土（つち）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ earth/soil
月曜日（げつようび）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Monday
火曜日（かようび）----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday
水曜日（すいようび）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wednesday
木曜日（もくようび）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thursday
金曜日（きんようび）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Friday
土曜日（どようび）----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday
日曜日（にちようび）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sunday
一月（いちがつ）---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- January
二月（にがつ）--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- February
三月（さんがつ）---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- March
四月（しがつ）--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- April
五月（ごがつ）--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- May
六月（ろくがつ）---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- June
七月（しちがつ）---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- July
八月（はちがつ）---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- August
九月（くがつ）--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- September
十月（じゅうがつ）----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- October
十一月（じゅういちがつ）--------------------------------------------------------------------------- November
十二月（じゅうにがつ）-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- December
一円（いちえん）---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One Yen
百円（ひゃくえん）----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One Hundred Yen
千円（せんえん）---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One Thousand Yen
一万円（いちまんえん）-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ten Thousand Yen
十万円（じゅうまんえん）--------------------------------------------------------------------------- One Hundred Thousand Yen
百万千（ひゃくまんえん）--------------------------------------------------------------------------- One Million Yen
千万円（せんまんえん）-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ten Million Yen
Whew! I know that seems like a lot guys, but try not to freak out too much! One you get the kanji and their readings and meanings, down, memorizing all that vocabulary will be easy peasy. We promise.
First, Let's talk a little bit about how you should be writing kani, and we aren't just talking about memorizing stroke order. Generally, in Japanese you write each character in order from top to bottom and left to right. Also some kanji, as we will learn later, are made up of radicals, and each radical is written and treated separately. Radicals are basically smaller parts of a whole kanji.
Also, there are three really important stroke styles to pay attention to. These are the stop, hook, and release. Here's a little diagram to show you what we mean.
These are important in writing kanji, and should not be overlooked. The hook is basically where you end a stroke with a short jump as pictured. Stops are just maintaining the line from start to finish with clean "stop". And releases are achieved by slowly picking up your pen towards the end of the stroke to create a wispy line. There are many different types of notebooks available on amazon to help you practice these strokes.
Memorizing the stroke order will help you in terms of learning other kanji in the long run, as many kanji will follow similar stroke order patterns. So please don't think that you can just ignore stroke order, that muscle memory is so important!
Lastly, there are two types of readings for kanji, on-yomi and kun-yomi. On-yomi are supposedly mimicry of the original Chinese sounds, where as kun-yomi are completely japanese-made readings. Kun-yomi are also what are used in making Japanese names, such as my husband's last name 末木（すえき）.
Here we have the kanji for 1 through 4. Generally, numbers are written like 1,2,3,4 etc, even in Japanese. But occasionally you will see the kanji used. Whether you see the kanji or the number itself, the reading will remain the same. The way you read numbers in Japanese will depend solely on which word you use them in.
四 is a really good example of this. If you just want to say "four", then you could either say よん or し. If you want to say 4 o'clock(四時), then you would say よじ. And if you want to say April(四月), then you would say しがつ.
That is why it is important to also memorize the readings for kanji. However, in my personal opinion, it is easier to memorize readings along with the words that they are used in.
Even if you were to sit down right now and memorize every single reading for all of these kanji, you still don't know which words use which readings until you learn the words.
Therefore my recommendation is to focus on memorizing how to write the kanji, along with the meaning of the kanji, and then learn the readings for the kanji by studying words that they are used in.
For this purpose, I will provide some example words containing these kanji. Keep in mind anything coming after the period is not part of the reading for the kanji in question.＊means radical(not typical) reading.
一:
一（いち）------------------------------------------- one
一時（いち.じ）------------------------------- one o'clock
一人（ひと.り）------------------------------- alone; one person
一つ（ひと.つ）------------------------------- one (thing)
一年生（いち.ねんせい）------------ first year student (freshman)
一日＊（ついたち）----------------------- first day of the month
一日（いち.にち）-------------------------- one day
一回（いっかい）---------------------------- one time
二:
二（に）----------------------------------------------- two
二時（に.じ）------------------------------------ two o'clock
二月（に.がつ）------------------------------- february
二日（ふつ.か）------------------------------- second day of the month
二つ（ふた.つ）------------------------------- two (things)
二男（じ.なん）------------------------------- second born son
三:
三（さん）------------------------------------------- three
三時（さん.じ）-------------------------------- three o'clock
三月（さん.がつ）--------------------------- March
三日（みっ.か）-------------------------------- third day of the month
三つ（みっ.つ）-------------------------------- three (things)
四:
四（よん・し）------------------------------------------- four
四時（よ.じ）------------------------------------- four o'clock
四月（し.がつ）-------------------------------- April
四日（よっ.か）-------------------------------- fourth day of the month
四秒（よん.びょう）----------------------- four seconds
四年生（よ.ねんせい）------------------ fourth year student (senior)
四つ（よっ.つ）--------------------------------- four (things)
五:
五（ご）------------------------------------------- five
五時（ご.じ）-------------------------------- five o'clock
五日（いつ.か）--------------------------- fifth day of the month
五月（ご.がつ）--------------------------- May
五つ（いつ.つ）--------------------------- five (things)
六:
六（ろく）-------------------------------------- six
六時（ろく.じ）--------------------------- six o'clock
六日（むい.か）--------------------------- sixth day of the month
六月（ろく.がつ）---------------------- June
六つ（むっ.つ）--------------------------- six things
七:
七（なな）-------------------------------------- seven
七時（しち.じ）--------------------------- seven o'clock
七日（なの.か）--------------------------- seventh day of the month
七月（しち.がつ）---------------------- July
七つ（なな.つ）--------------------------- seven (things)
八:
八（はち）-------------------------------------- eight
八時（はち.じ）--------------------------- eight o'clock
八日（よう.か）--------------------------- eighth day of the month
八月（はち.がつ）---------------------- August
八つ（やっ.つ）--------------------------- eight (things)
九:
九（きゅう）
九時（く.じ）
九日（ここの.か）
九月（く.がつ）
九秒（きゅう.びょう）
九つ（ここの.つ）
十:
十（じゅう）
十時（じゅう.じ）
十日（とお.か）
十月（じゅう.がつ）
十個（じゅう.こ）
十回（じゅっ.かい）------------------------
百:
百（ひゃく）------------------------------------------ one hundred
何百（なん.びゃく）-------------------------- hundreds
千:
千（せん）------------------------------------------------ one thousand
何千（なん.ぜん）-------------------------------- thousands
For fun:
千と千尋の神隠し（せん.と.ちひろ.のかみかくし）------------ Sen and Chihiro's Spiriting Away (Spirited Away) In the movie, Chihiro gets her name changed to Sen, which is really just a shortening of her real name which uses the same kanji, Chihiro.
万:
一万円（いち.まん.えん）--------------- 10,000 yen
何万人（なん.まん.にん）---------------- tens of thousands of people
万事（ばん.じ）----------------------------------- all/everything
円:
一円（いち.えん）------------------------------ one yen
円安（えん.やす）------------------------------ cheap yen
日:
日（ひ）-------------------------------------------------- day/sun
二十日（はつ.か）------------------------------- 20th of the month
日曜日（にち.よう.び）--------------------- Sunday
一日（いち.にち）------------------------------- one day
休日（きゅう.じつ）-------------------------- holiday/ day off
月:
月（つき）---------------------------------------------- moon/month
一月（いち.がつ）-------------------------------- January
月光（げっ.こう）-------------------------------- moonlight
一か月（いっか.げつ）----------------------- one month (period of time)
月曜日（げつ.ようび）----------------------- Monday
*note* The Yen's and Dollar's values change all the time. The easiest way to compare Yen to USD is to take 2 zeros away from the Yen value. i.e 10,000 yen becomes 100 dollars. This is not exact, but it makes things simpler for comparison's sake.
火:
火（ひ）--------------------------------------- fire
火曜日（か.ようび）--------------- Tuesday
花火（はな.び）------------------------- fireworks
火事（か.じ）------------------------------ house fire
火山（か.ざん）------------------------- volcano
水:
水（みず）----------------------------------- water
水曜日（すい.ようび）----------- Wednesday
洪水（こう.ずい）--------------------- flood