Say how do you say in japanese
Say how do you say in japanese
How to say «How do you say
I have always wondered how to ask someone (like my Japanese teacher) to tell me how to say something in Japanese. For example, I wanted to ask Kato Sensei how to say «Please send me a photo via Instagram DM.» If I were to ask her in English, I would say, «How do you say ‘Please send me a photo via Instagram DM’ in Japanese?» But if I asked a person in Japanese «How do you say 〜?» in English, that wouldn’t make sense, I guess. How do you say «How do you say __ [in Japanese]?» in Japanese?
2 Answers 2
The general pattern is:
To break things down a bit:
In this context, the で particle is used to mean «in this language», like so:
Here’s an example I remember seeing on japanese-online.com many years ago:
Jason: Kore wa Nihon-go de nan desu ka.
What is this (item) in Japanese?
Yota: Nihon-go de sore wa «denwa» desu.
In Japanese, that is a telephone.
. and here’s the explanation given on that page:
Kore wa Nihon-go de nan desu ka.
This sentence means «What is it in Japanese?» or «How do you say it in Japanese?» The word de is a particle that signifies «in» when referring to a language.
Thus, Nihon-go de means «in Japanese». The word Nihon-go is a compound of the two words, Nihon and go. Go means «language» and when added to the end of a country name, it signifies the language of that country.
How Do You Say I WANT or NEED in Japanese?
Sometimes the way that you would say a phrase in English is pretty much the same way that you would say it in Japanese. I’m not talking so much about the word order or grammar of the phrases, but more along the lines of just plugging in the exact words for each language:
あぁ、そうですか？ (aa, sou desu ka?)
Ah, is that so?
But then there are other times where the two languages handle things completely differently! In particular, I am talking about how each language handles the words “I want” to express your own desires, and also “I need” when something is a necessity for you.
Let’s take a look at the things that you “want” first, and then we’ll get to the stuff that you “need.”
How Do You Say I Want in Japanese? (Nouns)
When it comes to expressing your desire for a noun (an apple, a car, a house) it’s actually pretty simple. All you are going to do is say the noun that you want, add the particle が to it, and then say 欲しいです (hoshii desu).
リンゴが欲しいです。 (ringo ga hoshii desu.)
I want an apple.
So the way to soften the whole thing is to add ん after the verb to soften it, and then also to add either が or けど at the very end of the sentence to (again) soften the whole thing, and to kind of imply that you are open to discussing an alternative.
リンゴが欲しいんですが。 (ringo ga hoshii n desu ga.)
I would like an apple (if that’s okay).
And when you need to conjugate it to the other forms like “I don’t want” or “I didn’t want” you will leave です the same and instead change 欲しい according to the same rules that are used for i-adjectives. If you want to see some examples on these kind of conjugations, keep on reading and I will show you some at the end of the next section.
How Do You Say I Want in Japanese? (Verbs)
In Japanese you will actually change the form of the verb itself. I find that the easiest way to use the “want form” of the verb is to first think of the verb in its polite mass-form. Then you would replace the ます (masu) at the end of the verb to たいです (tai desu).
飲みます (nomimasu) “I drink” –> 飲みたいです (nomitai desu) “I want to drink”
Replacing ます with たい will work for most verbs, but there are a few exceptions that you will just have to learn by heart. And again, you can drop the copula です to make it informal, or you can add ん and が to soften it.
Of course, you can combine this “wanting to do an action” with a noun that you intend to do the action to: “I want to drink water.” Just like the earlier example, you will attached the particle が to the noun.
水が飲みたいです。 (mizu ga nomitai desu.)
I want to drink water.
You can use this same phrase to say “I want to drink some water” as the word “some” is implied in these kind of situations.
水が飲みたい。 (mizu ga nomitai.)
I want to drink water.
水が飲みたくない。 (mizu ga nomitaku nai.)
I don’t want to drink water.
水が飲みたかった。 (mizu ga nomitakatta.)
I wanted to drink water.
水が飲みたくなかった。 (mizu ga nomitakunakatta.)
I didn’t want to drink water.
These above four examples are all informal. You just need to add the copula です to make the sentence more polite.
How Do You Say I Need in Japanese? (Nouns)
We tend to use the words “I want” and “I need” interchangeably even though they are not always the same thing. For the most part, I think that you should be able to use the above phrases for “I want” and you’ll be just fine. However, there are some times when you will actually have to say “I need” in Japanese. That’s where 要る (iru) comes into play.
お金が要ります。 (o kane ga irimasu.)
I need some money.
This one is not like an i-adjective. You will conjugate the verb ending according to verb conjugation rules. But there is one thing that is the same: you will use が to mark the object that you need.
How Do You Say I Need in Japanese? (Verbs)
Are you noticing a trend here? Japanese handles nouns and verbs differently. I personally think that it’s really interesting and I enjoy learning about it. I think it’s probably because Japanese is so different from English. That kind of variety is really refreshing from my perspective.
“Need to” sentences are constructed a little differently from “want to” sentences. You will take the verb in it’s infinitive form ( 食べる ), combine it with the word for “necessary” ( 必要 ), and then use the verb “to exist” ( ある ). That sounds a little complicated when it’s just explained, so here are some examples to clear up any confusion:
食べる必要があります。 (taberu hitsuyou ga arimasu.)
I need to eat.
A literal translation would be: To eat, necessary, it is.
This phrase is a great one to learn by heart since you could substitute out the verb 食べる for any other that you’d like.
水を飲む必要があります。 (mizu o nomu hitsuyou ga arimasu.)
I need to drink some water.
今日は東京に行く必要があります。 (kyou wa toukyou ni iku hitsuyou ga arimasu.)
I need to go to Tokyo today.
If you need to change it from “need” to “don’t need” or anything like that, just conjugate the あります at the end of the sentence.
What About What Other People Want?
An interesting thing is that is that we truly can’t know what another person wants unless they tell us. This aspect is actually accounted for in the Japanese language as the above words can only be used when talking about your own desires.
So how do you handle those situations when talking about a third party’s wants? You’ve got a couple of options that you can use. They are kind of a roundabout way of expressing things… which is a very Japanese thing to do!
(1) It Looks Like He Wants…
So if you’re talking to a friend about Jim, instead of saying “Jim wants to eat,” you could instead say “It looks like Jim wants to eat”
ジムは食べたがっている。 (jimu wa tabetagatte iru.)
It looks like Jim wants to eat.
And the negative is がらない :
ジムは食べたがらない。 (jimu wa tabetagara nai.)
It looks like Jim doesn’t want to eat.
(2) Quotation
Or if Jim actually told you what he wanted, then you could just quote him directly when telling your friend about it:
ジムは中国に行きたくないと言いました。 (jimu wa chuugoku ni ikitaku nai to iimashita.)
Jim said he doesn’t want to go to China.
(3) Hypothesis
Still another way would be to finish your sentence with “I think” ( 思う ) to tell the other person that “you think someone else wants to do something.” Maybe you’ve come to a conclusion about what the other person wants, but only implicitly. That’s when it would be good to use this strategy.
ジムは中国に行きたくないと思います。 (jimu wa chuugoku ni ikitaku nai to omo imasu.)
I think Jim doesn’t want to go to China.
(4) Apparently
And for the last recommendation for talking about another person’t desires, we get to a way of saying it “seems like” or “apparently.”
All you have to do is state the sentence normally and finish it with ようだ (you da).
ジムは中国に行きたくないようだ。 (jimu wa chuugoku ni ikitaku nai you da.)
It seems that Jim doesn’t want to go to China.
As you can see, all of these phrases avoid you just bluntly stating what Jim (another person) wants or doesn’t want.
That’s all for this lesson.
Further Resources for Learning Japanese:
Blog Archive
Hi! This blog is no longer updated, but on this page you can find an archive of my blog posts, 2016-2022. Click here to view the blog index (a list of all posts).
Search this blog:
How Do You Say «Nice to Meet You» in Japanese?
Hurray! You’ve met another Japanese-speaking person. Time to introduce yourself.
But how do you say «Pleased to meet you» in Japanese?
The first phrase you’ll want is:
Hajimemashite (almost literally) means «we are meeting for the first time». So you can only use it the first time you meet someone.
The other super-useful phrase is:
Yoroshiku onegai shimasu is hard to translate, but means something like «please be kind to me».
It means that you are looking forward to having a good relationship with someone.
Shop “Nice To Meet You” Japanese necklaces (Step Up Japanese x designosaur):
Make it more polite
Add douzo to make your greeting more polite:
«Nice to meet you» (polite & a bit formal)
You could also say:
«I’m happy to meet you.» (more polite & formal)
«I’m honoured to meet you.» (even more polite & formal)
Keep it casual
If you don’t feel like being so polite, you could also say:
«Nice to meet you» (a bit more casual)
It’s good to be nice-mannered when you meet new people though, right?
«Nice to meet you too!»
Last but not least, when someone says yoroshiku onegaishimasu, you can add the feeling of «me too!» by replying with kochira koso («me too!»):
«No, I’m pleased to meet you.» / «The pleasure is mine.»
Now, go and find someone new to speak to, and tell them how pleased you are to meet them.
Yoroshiku ne!
Shop “Nice To Meet You” Japanese necklaces (Step Up Japanese x designosaur):
Updated 26th Oct 2020
Fran Wrigley
Like many people in the UK, I studied French in school. I liked French. I thought it was really fun to speak another language, to talk with people, and to try and listen to what was going on in a new country. (Still do!)
When I was 14 we went on a school exchange to the city of Reims, in northeastern France. I was paired with a boy, which I’m sure some 14-year-olds would find very exciting but which I found unbearably awkward. He was very sweet and we completely ignored each other.
That was nearly 20 years ago, and I didn’t learn or use any more French until, at some point in lockdown, I decided on a whim to take some one-to-one lessons with online teachers. Here are some things I learned about French, about language learning, and about myself.
A special guest post from Step Up Japanese student Phil Kinchington!
Anki is a flashcard app that uses a Spaced Repetition System (SRS) to help you learn and memorise information by creating strong, long-lasting memories. It does this by aiming to present you with a flashcard exactly at the point you were about to forget it.
You should be able to recall the information, but at a slight stretch. If you remember the card correctly, it will increase the length of time before it shows it to you again. If you can’t remember (or remember incorrectly) it will show it to you again sooner. It was originally developed for language learning (being named after the Japanese word for ‘memorisation’) but has since been applied to many subjects, including medical studies…
In this mini interview I asked Elly some questions about the Japanese language, and we talked about tips for learners who are just getting started.
Uchiyama is a designer from Yokohama, Japan.
He posts clean, minimalist Japanese handwriting on a separate handwriting Instagram account.
I’m not even sure if you can call it calligraphy, it’s so gloriously simple. But he’s got nice handwriting, and I love having it in my feed.
Isawo Murayama is a busy mum-of-four who makes time to create new pieces daily.
Traditional Japanese calligraphy uses a brush which is dipped into ink, but Murayama uses a 筆ペン (fude-pen) or «brush pen».
Mitsuru Nagata was born in Kyoto, and works extensively in Spain. His work combines elements of calligraphy with sumi-e (Japanese ink painting) techniques.
He performs at «live-painting» events, where he produces huge calligraphy paintings in front of a live audience.
These large-scale performances are often at festivals…