How do you say "fast" in Japanese?

In Japanese, "fast" is 速い (hayai). It is a adjective pronounced "hah-yah-ee".

Listen to the pronunciation:

Pronunciation

速い is written in kanji and hiragana. Romanised as hayai, it sounds roughly like "hah-yah-ee" to an English ear.

Example sentence

この車はとても速いです。

Kono kuruma wa totemo hayai desu.

This car is very fast.

Usage notes

Hayai (速い) means fast or quick when describing speed. The same sound hayai is also written 早い for 'early'. In Japanese, context and kanji distinguish them.

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Questions about 速い

How do you pronounce 速い?

速い is romanised as hayai. Say it roughly like "hah-yah-ee" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is 速い formal or casual?

速い 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 速い written in Japanese?

速い 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.