Activities: Japanese Phrases
Have you ever been in a Sailor Moon RP or in the middle of a fanfiction, when all of a sudden, people are using random Japanese words that you don't know? Fans tend to pick up a few phrases here and there and slowly they start to creep into regular conversation. Below is a compiled list of common little things to help you understand and say some of these common things. This is not meant to be a tutorial for Japanese, just some useful phrases that you might see other people using or that you might want to learn. If you see anything you think might be wrong, feel free to
Contact me and let me know!
| Word or Phrase |
Translation |
| konnichiwa |
good afternoon |
| ohayo gozaimasu |
good morning |
| konbanwa |
good evening (after dinner) |
| ja ne |
bye; see you later |
| ja mata |
see you later |
| nani? |
what? |
| arigatou (or arigato) |
thank you |
| gomen ne |
excuse me; sorry |
| gomen nasai |
please excuse me; I'm very sorry |
| baka |
stupid, idiot, silly, funny |
| bakayaro/bakayarou |
Stupid idiot |
| hai |
yes; right; okay |
| iie/iiya |
no |
| odango atama |
meatball head (literally dumpling head) |
| kawaii |
cute |
| oyasumi nasai |
good night |
| moshi moshi |
hello? (when answering the phone) |
| Hajimemashite |
How do you do? (first meeting) |
| ne? |
Added to the end of a sentance to ask "That is correct?" Or "Is that right?" (used only by females or by a male taking to a female informally) |
| kaze |
wind |
| kami |
spirit (can also mean 'hair' or 'paper' in context) |
| hana |
flower |
Another thing that is commonly encountered is name endings. These are little suffixes added to the end of someone's name to say something about them. These are commonly seen in chat. For example, Usagi calls Mamoru Mamo-
chan, signifying her closeness to him. Some of the endings Sakura knows are listed below:
| Ending |
Meaning |
Example |
| -chan |
Added to a close friend's or boyfriend's first name |
Ami becomes Ami-chan Mamoru becomes Mamo-chan* |
| -san |
Added to an older or repected person's name; someone you just met |
Michiru becomes Michiru-san |
| -kun |
Added to a guy's (or a serious tom-boy's) first name; a boy you've just met |
Seiya becomes Seiya-kun (an older boy to a younger boy; a boss to an employee) |
| -sama |
Added to king's names or gods' names; respectful |
Diana calles Mamoru Mamoru-sama |
| -sempei |
Added to an upperclassman's name |
Mamoru becomes Mamoru-sempei |
| -hime |
Added to a princess' name |
Mononoke becomes Mononoke-hime |
| -sensei |
Added to a teachers's name |
Sakurada becomes Sakurada-sensei |
| -ouji |
Added to a prince's name |
Yuki becomes Yuki-ouji |
| -mun(used in RP) |
Added to a character's name in order to refer to the actual person at the computer; used in refering to someone you know only on the computer and not in normal everyday life |
Sakura becomes Sakura-mun |
| * The names can be shortened in order to make the name flow easier. For example, Usagi become Usa-chan; Makoto becomes Mako-chan; my friends call me Sakky-chan. This can be done with any of the endings to make it easier to say. Thanks to Sakuya for the help with this. ^.~ |
And finally, here is a table of numbers one to ten:
| one |
ichi |
| two |
ni |
| three |
san |
| four |
shi/yon |
| five |
go |
| six |
roku |
| seven |
shichi/nana |
| ight |
hachi |
| nine |
ku/kyu |
| ten |
ju |
Thank you Lori-chan for help with this, as well as
Polaris for pointing out some mistakes,
Sydney Bodem for helping with some corrections, and
Jenn for some new words. ^^;; If you have any feedback for this page, please visit the
Contact Page.