In Japanese, "happy" is 幸せ (shiawase). It is a adjective pronounced "shee-ah-wah-seh".
Listen to the pronunciation:
幸せ is written in kanji and hiragana. Romanised as shiawase, it sounds roughly like "shee-ah-wah-seh" to an English ear.
彼女はとても幸せそうです。
Kanojo wa totemo shiawasesou desu.
She looks very happy.
Shiawase (幸せ) describes a deep, lasting sense of contentment or happiness. It differs from tanoshii (fun in the moment) and is the word used in the phrase 'I am happy' in everyday conversation.
Practice 幸せ and hundreds more Japanese words in the game.
Buy on Steam幸せ is romanised as shiawase. Say it roughly like "shee-ah-wah-seh" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.
幸せ is a na-adjective or noun-adjective. It is neutral in register and fits naturally in both casual and polite sentences. Add na before a noun, or use desu for a polite predicate.
幸せ 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.
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