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Japanese vocabulary · Beginner
How do you say "first" in Japanese?
一番目
ichibanme
In Japanese, "first" is 一番目 (ichibanme).
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Pronunciation
Pronounce i-chi-ban-ME, four syllables where ichi means one and ban me marks the ordinal ranking.
Writing and usage
一番目 is written using kanji. It's a noun, and this word is also taught inside the Noun Town language learning game, where it appears in interactive lessons alongside hundreds of other everyday words.
Example sentence
彼女はレースで1位を獲得しました。
kanojo ha reesu de 1 kurai wo kakutoku shimashita.
She won first place in the race.
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How to remember 一番目
Ichibanme starts with ichi, one - whoever is ichibanme crossed the line before everybody else, plain and simple.
Related words
- dozen 12 12
- hundred 百 hyaku
- thousand 千 sen
- million 百万 hyakuman
- billion 10億 10 oku
- half 半分 hanbun
- quarter 四分の一 yonbun no ichi
- double ダブル daburu
- triple トリプル toripuru
Browse all Japanese words in the glossary.
Questions about 一番目
How do you pronounce 一番目?
Pronounce i-chi-ban-ME, four syllables where ichi means one and ban me marks the ordinal ranking.
Is 一番目 formal or casual?
一番目 is a neutral, everyday word that works in both casual and polite speech. The level of formality comes from the sentence structure around it, not from the word itself.
How is 一番目 written in Japanese?
一番目 is written using kanji. Romanised, it reads as ichibanme.
Where can I practice Japanese words for free?
You can play free Japanese minigames in your browser on the Noun Town online games page, with no sign-up needed. Every word in the Japanese glossary also has native audio and an example sentence you can revisit any time.
"First" in other languages
Curated by Jack Ratcliffe
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. Want to play the full game? Get Noun Town on Steam.
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