The Most Common Japanese Verbs in Anime
する, to do. Then いる, 言う, ある, and なる. I counted every verb in the Japanese subtitles of 120 anime, and out of more than 6,000 different verbs, the top 10 make up 43% of the verbs you'll hear. The top 50 make up 64%, and the top 200 reach 80%.
The top 20
| Rank | Verb | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | する | suru | to do |
| 2 | いる | iru | to be |
| 3 | 言う | iu | to say |
| 4 | ある | aru | to be, to have |
| 5 | なる | naru | to become |
| 6 | 来る | kuru | to come |
| 7 | 行く | iku | to go |
| 8 | やる | yaru | to do |
| 9 | 見る | miru | to see |
| 10 | しまう | shimau | to end up (doing) |
| 11 | 分かる | wakaru | to understand |
| 12 | 思う | omou | to think |
| 13 | くれる | kureru | to give (me) |
| 14 | できる | dekiru | can |
| 15 | 知る | shiru | to know |
| 16 | 聞く | kiku | to hear |
| 17 | 待つ | matsu | to wait |
| 18 | 置く | oku | to put |
| 19 | 死ぬ | shinu | to die |
| 20 | くださる | kudasaru | to kindly give |
Source: Top 200 Japanese Verbs in Anime. The full 200 are in the book.
Every one of these 20 shows up in all 120 shows, except 死ぬ (to die), which misses two. Anime is anime.
See the Top 10 with furigana in Yomikit →Why start with verbs
The curve is steep at the top. Learn する, the first verb in the book, and you'll hear it dozens of times the next episode you watch. Every early verb pays off right away. Far down the list it's different: a verb around number 1,000 turns up in only about one in six shows, usually once. That's why the order matters.
What a page in the book looks like
Each of the 200 verbs gets one page: its meaning, the three forms anime uses most, up to two phrases heard in 10 or more shows, a 12-form conjugation strip ordered by how often anime uses each form, and an anime joke that uses something from the page. Here's part of the page for 言う (iu), to say:
| Form | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| いう | iu | say; called, that… |
| 言った | itta | said; I told you |
| 言ってる | itteru | is saying |
| そういう | sou iu | that kind of (phrase) |
| どういう | dou iu | what do you mean?; what kind of (phrase) |
The book
- Top 200 Japanese Verbs in Anime: A Reference Guide to 80% of the Verbs You'll Hear: all 200 verbs, ranked from most common to least, one page each.
- Watch Anime, Learn Japanese: the 210 most common words of every kind, as word cards, with the data behind them.
Questions
- What is the most common Japanese verb in anime?
- する (suru), to do. Then いる (iru), to be, and 言う (iu), to say.
- How many Japanese verbs should I learn first?
- Start with 10: they make up 43% of the verbs you'll hear. The top 50 make up 64%, and the top 200 reach 80%.
- Are the most common verbs the same in every anime?
- Mostly. Every one of the top 20 appears in all 120 shows, except 死ぬ, which shows up in 118.
How I counted
I counted every verb in the Japanese subtitles of 120 anime: 20 shows from each of six genres, roughly the first season of each. That's 1,432 episodes and 3.3 million words. Verbs were counted by dictionary form, so 言った and 言います both count as 言う. Every show counts the same in the ranking, so one talkative series can't push its favorite verb up the list. More on the episodes and counting.