Kumadex

by Mario Hayashi, Kuma Learn

Learn 25
JLPT-N3 Vocab
with Pictures
MINI EBOOK WITH BONUS VOCAB!

Version 4 1 Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kyoto, Japan

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Introduction: Learn Japanese Visually

Learning Japanese can seem a tall order, with so many unfamiliar

words! Luckily, there are great resources to learn from, including
WaniKani, DuoLingo and Genki. These resources help you learn using
various approaches, such as audial and kinaesthetic techniques (e.g.
games).

Kuma Learn o ers you a visual approach to learning Japanese

vocabulary. Some words lend themselves well to visual presentation and
that’s why we’ve made you a picture dictionary for Japanese: Kumadex.

We looked at frequently occurring words [*] to select 25 JLPT N3 words

in this mini-eBook. They’re only a fraction of all the words in the
Japanese language but I hope it serves as a useful guide. If you like this
eBook, do sign up to the newsletter! www.kumalearn.com/newsletter.
* See Acknowledgements: Centre for Translation Studies, Leeds University.

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KUMADEX

Learn 25 JLPT N3 Vocab with Pictures

by Mario Hayashi, Kuma Learn

Version 4 3 Nara, Japan

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How to read this eBook
Image

Photograph to help you learn the Japanese word.

Label

Some words are bonus words. Free extra words! We call this
おまけ (o-ma-ke): bonus or freebie.

Word

The Japanese word, in kanji with one reading in furigana

(hiragana to help you read kanji). The reading is also written in
romaji, or romanised Japanese, for convenience.

Only one reading is shown. Some words have multiple readings

but we focus on the common reading to make it easier for you
to learn.

Tags
Meanings
Words are labelled with parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective,
Some words have over ten meanings. But we’ve focused on the etc.), how common a reading is and where they appear
top three to ve, so that it’s easier for you to learn. (Genki, JLPT).

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How to tell time
• Midday is 昼 (hiru)

• Evening and night is 夜 (yoru)

Use the time of day and clock time together:

There are two words for time: 時間 (jikan) and 時 (toki or ji). • Nine in the morning is 朝の９時
When we talk about the duration, we’re usually talking about (asa-no-ku-ji) or 午前９時 (gozen-ku-ji)
時間; when it’s about a point in time, it’s usually 時!
• Eight in the evening is 夜の８時
Clock time (yoru-no-hachi-ji) or 午後８時 (gogo-hachi-ji)

You’ll probably want to learn how to read the clock rst! Relative time

• 1 o’clock is 1時 (ichi-ji) • Now is 今 (ima) as well as 現在 (gen-zai)

• 8:20am is 午前8時20分 (gozen-hachi-ji-nijju-punn) • Always is いつも (itsu-mo)

• 1:30pm is 午後1時半 (gogo-ichi-ji-han) • 30 minutes hence is 30分後 (sanju-punn-go)

You may have guessed that 時 (ji) represents hours and 分 • 1 hour ago is 1時間前 (ichi-jikan-mae)
(punn) is minutes. What’s 午前 (gozen) and 午後 (gogo)? They’re
different times of day: before noon and afternoon, respectively. • After midday is お昼すぎ (ohiru-sugi)

• After midday is お昼前 (ohiru-mae)

午前 (gozen) and 午後 (gogo) are always pre xes. 前 (zen, mae)
and 後 (go) are suf xes and mean before and after. These • Any time before/after now is 以前 (i-zen) / 以後 (i-go)
words appear a lot, so make sure to take note! It’s an expression that is unusual in other languages!

Times of day • "Under 2 minutes” can be expressed by 2分以内 (ni-fun-i-nai)

or 以下 (i-ka); 以内 is used more for durations.
Other times of day that might be useful to know:
• 以上 (i-jou) expresses “above” a certain amount of time.
• Morning is 朝 (asa)
以下, 以内 and 以上 are all inclusive; 2分以内 includes 2 mins.
• This morning is 今朝 (kesa)

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How to tell time
Days of the week

• Monday: ⽉曜⽇ (getsu-yo-u-bi)

• Tuesday: ⽕曜⽇ (ka-yo-u-bi)

Other lengths of time • Wednesday: ⽔曜⽇ (sui-yo-u-bi)

We’ve covered hours and minutes but what about shorter or • Thursday: ⽊曜⽇ (moku-yo-u-bi)
longer periods of time? We’ve got you covered:
• Friday: ⾦曜⽇ (kin-yo-u-bi)
• One second is１秒 (ichi-byou)
• Saturday: ⼟曜⽇ (do-yo-u-bi)
• One day is１⽇ (ichi-nichi); two days is２⽇ (futsu-ka)
• Sunday: ⽇曜⽇ (nichi-yo-u-bi)
• “Over the course of three days” is 3⽇間 (mikka-kan)
Asking for time
• One week is１週間 (isshuu-kan)
• What’s the time? 今、何時ですか？(ima-nanji-desuka)
• One month is １ヶ⽉ (ikka-getsu)
• How long does it take? どのくらいかかりますか? (dono-
• One year is １年 (ichi-nen); several years is 数年 (suu-nen) kurai-kakari-masuka)

• Forever is 永遠 (ei-en) Trivia

• Around 4 o’clock is ４時頃 (yoji-goro) Finally, some trivia facts and expressions around time:

• Approximately 1 hour is 約１時間 (yaku-ichi-jikan) • If you’re meeting at 1pm, arrive at least 5-10 mins
beforehand. Arriving bang on time is best avoided and
That’s a lot of ways to describe time! Remember, you can add
being late is frowned upon, so try to arrive well ahead of
前 (zen, mae) and 後 (go) to the end of these lengths of time:
time. “Meet at 1pm” means you’re ready to go at 1pm!
• Two days ago is２⽇前 (futsu-ka-mae)

• One week hence is 1週間後 (isshuu-kan-go)

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JLPT N3 Vocab

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JLPT N3 Vocab

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JLPT N3 Vocab

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JLPT N3 Vocab

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JLPT N3 Vocab

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JLPT N3 Vocab

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About the Author

Hi, I’m Mario! I speak three languages (English, German, Japanese) and
make software for a living.

Thanks for reading this mini-eBook. I started the Kumadex project for
those who want to explore a visual approach to learning Japanese.

Your feedback and support is greatly appreciated, and will help shape
Kuma Learn in the future. Reach out to me at mario@kumalearn.com if
you have any comments or suggestions.

If you enjoyed this mini-eBook and want to learn more with pictures,
subscribe to the newsletter! www.kumalearn.com/newsletter.

Mario Hayashi, Kuma Learn

Email: mario@kumalearn.com
Twitter: @logicalicy

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Attributions

Cover Ichinichi; Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán on Pexels

Sangatsu; Photo by Oleg Magni on Pexels
Nanji; Photo by Pixabay on Pexels
Fushimi Inari Shrine, Kyoto; Photo by Stephan Streuders on Pexels
Itsumo; Photo by Dakiny on Flickr under CC BY 2.0

Page 3
Page 10
Deer, Nara; Photo by Pathama Koon on Pexels
Tsuki; Photo by SevenStorm JUHASZIMRUS on Pexels
Nihon; Photo by mmphotography.it on Flickr under CC BY 2.0
Page 4 Nani; Photo by Pixabay on Pexels
Sanka: Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels
Kuma; Photo by Rasmus Svinding on Pexels
Page 11
Page 7
Kangae; Photo by Andrew Wilus on Pexels
Ichiji; Photo by Enikő Tóth on Pexels Sei; Photo by Tim Mossholder on Pexels
Asa; Photo by Ave Calvar Martinez on Pexels En; Photo by Kontrollstellekundl on Wikimedia under Public Domain
Hiru; Hiru: Photo by Pixabay on Pexels Jouhou; Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels
Yoru; Photo by Vedad Colic on Pexels
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Page 8
Kanji; Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels
Gozen; Photo by Ave Calvar Martinez on Pexels Iin; Photo by Jopwell on Pexels
Gogo; Photo by Skitterphoto on Pexels Iu; Photo by cottonbro on Pexels
Toki; Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels Kiji; Photo by Ekrulila on Pexels
Genzai; Photo by Marius Mann on Pexels

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Attributions

Page 13

Ningen; Photo by Yogendra Singh on Pexels

Kankyou: Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels
Kigyou; Photo by Philipp Birmes on Pexels
Shi; Photo by Craig Adderley on Pexels

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Kanou; Photo by Andrew Wilus on Pexels

Hoka; Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels
Kekka; Photo by Theo Decker on Pexels
Kane; Photo by Pixabay on Pexels

Page 15

Seifu; Photo by Aaron Kittredge on Pexels

Hjou; Photo by monicore on Pexels
Yoi; Photo by Anastasiya Gepp on Pexels
Houhou; Photo by Pixabay on Pexels

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Acknowledgements

Kumadex is an independent project made by Mario Hayashi of

Kuma Learn, a Tugboat Coding product. The project has Tatoeba
already taken many months to create and I’m sure I’ll be
spending many more to continuously keep improving it!

The data used in Kumadex comes from a number of projects. Many example sentences that appear in Kumadex come from
Kuma Learn is extremely thankful to the creators and the Tatoeba project, which is a large database of sentences and
contributors of these projects, who have made projects like translations.
Kumadex possible.

Wanakana
JMdict
Wanakana is an open-source Javascript library for detecting
JMdict is a project created by Jim Breen. It’s a general, and transliterating between Hiragana, Katakana and Romaji.
Japanese-English dictionary managed by the Electronic
Dictionary Research and Development Group (EDRDG), Jim
Been and a team of volunteers. The vast majority of words that
appear in Kumadex come from JMdict.

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Acknowledgements

Kuroshiro Wiktionary

Kuroshiro is an open-source Javascript library for converting Wiktionary’s JLPT word list has been used to help select words
Japanese sentences to Hiragana, Katakana or Romaji with to include in this mini-eBook.
furigana.

Genki
Centre for Translation
Studies, Leeds University
Some words reference their appearance in Genki, a textbook
series loved by many Japanese language learners.

The Centre for Translation Studies of Leeds University offers a

word frequency list based on their Japanese language corpus.
This list is used by Kumadex to order words by their frequency
in Japanese text that the Centre for Translation Studies has
studied.

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Acknowledgements

If you would like to give back to the community of people who

Pexels make projects like Kumadex possible, some of the projects
listed above accept for contributions and/or donations.

A vast majority of the excellent pictures shown in Kumadex are

made by photographers and contributors of Pexels.

Wikimedia

Wikimedia is another source of images used in Kumadex.

Flickr

A small number of images are also sourced from Flickr.

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