How do you say "dark" in Japanese?

In Japanese, "dark" is 暗い (Kurai). It is a adjective pronounced "koo-rah-ee".

Listen to the pronunciation:

Pronunciation

暗い is written in kanji and hiragana. Romanised as Kurai, it sounds roughly like "koo-rah-ee" to an English ear.

Example sentence

この部屋はとても暗いです。

Kono heya wa totemo kurai desu.

This room is very dark.

Usage notes

Kurai (暗い) is an i-adjective meaning dark. It describes low light as well as dark moods. Kurai hito can mean a gloomy person. Its opposite is akarui (bright or cheerful).

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Questions about 暗い

How do you pronounce 暗い?

暗い is romanised as Kurai. Say it roughly like "koo-rah-ee" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is 暗い formal or casual?

暗い is an i-adjective. The form shown is the plain form, which works in casual speech. To make it polite, add desu at the end of the sentence. The word itself does not change.

How is 暗い written in Japanese?

暗い is written using kanji and hiragana. Kanji characters carry the core meaning; any hiragana or katakana that follow show grammatical endings.

This word is part of the vocabulary taught in the Japanese language learning game Noun Town, where words are introduced through play rather than memorisation.