Japanese vocab

ちょっと

1) a little, a bit,, slightly

2) just a minute, for a moment, briefly

来て

（きて）

1) to come (spatially or temporally), to approach, to arrive

2) to come back, to do… and come back

お母さん

（おかあさん）

1) mother

なあに

1) what?

見て

（みて）

1) to see, to look, to watch, to view, to observe

すごい

1) terrible, dreadful

2) amazing (e.g. of strength), great (e.g. of skills), wonderful, terrific

3) to a great extent, vasst (in numbers)

4) awfully, very immensely

ね

1) right?; isn’t it?; doesn’t it?; don’t you?; don’t you think?

お父さん

（きいて）

father

聞いて

（きいて）

1) to hear

2) to listen

じょうず

1) skillful, skilled, proficient, good (at), adept, clever

おじいちゃん

grandfather

おばあちゃん

grandmother

うまい

1) skillfull, skilled, good, expert, clever (expression, trick, etc.), apt, appropriate

おねえちゃん

older sister

あれ

that, that thing

(indicating something distant from both speaker and listener (in space, time, or psychologically; or something understood without naming it directly)

とって

1) to take, to pick up, to grab, to catch, to hold

2) to pass, to hand, to give

3) to get, to obtain, to acquire, to win, etc.

よいしょ

“huff!”

an expression of effort or strain

おにいちゃん

older brother

ふーん

hmm, well… humph, huh, pshaw, pish

これ

this, this one

indicating an item near the speaker, the action ofthe speaker, or the current topic

できる

1) to be able to do, to bepossible, to be permitted to do

2) to be good at, to do well, to be proficident in, to be capable

じぶんで

by myself, in person, by oneself

やって

1) to do, to undertake, to perform, to play (a game), to study

2) to send, to dispatch, to despatch

はい

yes (polite)

1) yes, that is correct

2) understood, i see, ok

3) present, here, pardon?, what’s that?

ごしごし

scrubbing hard, scrubbing clean, to scrub hard

わあ

1) wow! oh! eek! gee!

2) yeah! alright! hurray!

きれい

1) pretty, lovely, beautiful, fair

2) clean, clear, pure, tidy, neat

えらい

1) great, excellent, admirable, commendable, laudable, honorable,wonderful, outstanding

2) distinguished, important, highranking, powerful, iminent, famous

おはよう

（add ございます to make it polite)

Good morning

Note: can omit ございます if talking to friends, family, or anyone you’re on a first-name basis with. BE POLITE

some will casually drop this later in the day if they’re intimate and it’s the first time in the day they’ve seen each other

こんにちは

Good afternoon

こんばんは

good evening

さようなら

good bye

Note: 3 ways of saying good bye

さようなら： speaker does not think they’ll see the recipient before she “turns a page in her life”, until the next day, or until fate brings them together. dramatic, ritualistic, mostly used between students and teachers

じゃあ、また：friends who intend to see each other again quite soon

しつれいします：(“taking leave from a professor’s office, for example”)