Home › Japanese › Glossary › motivated
Japanese vocabulary · Beginner
How do you say "motivated" in Japanese?
やる気がある
yaru kiga aru
In Japanese, "motivated" is やる気がある (yaru kiga aru).
Listen to the pronunciation:
Free Japanese learning game. No sign-up, play in browser. See all games
Pronunciation
Say YAH-roo-kee-gah AH-roo, yaru ki is two short beats, then ga aru trails off gently at the end.
Writing and usage
やる気がある is written using kanji. It's a adjective, 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
もっと勉強しようという意欲が湧いた。
motto benkyou shiyoutoiu iyoku ga wai ta.
He felt motivated to study harder.
Test your Japanese knowledge in our free browser games.
How to remember やる気がある
Yaru ki sounds like 'ya, rookie', picture a rookie athlete pumped up, yelling 'ya!' before a big game, bursting with motivation.
Related words
- excited 興奮している koufun shiteiru
- thrilled とても興奮している totemo koufun shiteiru
- terrified 恐怖でいっぱいだ kyoufu deippaida
- shocked ショックを受けている shokku wo uke teiru
- disgusted 嫌悪感を抱いている ken'okan wo dai teiru
- sympathetic 共感的 kyoukan teki
- empathetic 共感的 kyoukan teki
- optimistic 楽観的だ rakukanteki da
- pessimistic 悲観的 hikanteki
Browse all Japanese words in the glossary.
Questions about やる気がある
How do you pronounce やる気がある?
Say YAH-roo-kee-gah AH-roo, yaru ki is two short beats, then ga aru trails off gently at the end.
Is やる気がある formal or casual?
やる気がある 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 やる気がある written in Japanese?
やる気がある is written using kanji. Romanised, it reads as yaru kiga aru.
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.
"Motivated" in other languages
Curated by Callan 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.
Noun Town on PC, Mac & VR
These browser games are just a taste. The full Noun Town is a bigger, deeper 3D world: explore a living town, talk to its characters and learn thousands of words in immersive VR, Mixed Reality, or on your computer. It's an award-winning game with 590+ reviews on Steam and 12 languages to learn.
See the full game ▶Spot an error? Email us at contact@noun.town