How do you say "give" in Japanese?

In Japanese, "give" is あげる (ageru). It is a verb pronounced "ah-geh-roo".

Listen to the pronunciation:

Pronunciation

あげる is written in hiragana. Romanised as ageru, it sounds roughly like "ah-geh-roo" to an English ear.

Example sentence

彼は上手にあげます。

Kare wa jouzu ni agemasu.

He to gives well.

Usage notes

あげる means to give in Japanese. This is an everyday verb that learners encounter early. Mastering its masu form (あげます) and te-form opens up many sentence patterns.

Related words

Curated by Jack Ratcliffe

Practice あげる and hundreds more Japanese words in the game.

Buy on Steam

Questions about あげる

How do you pronounce あげる?

あげる is romanised as ageru. Say it roughly like "ah-geh-roo" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is あげる formal or casual?

あげる is the plain (dictionary) form, used in casual speech and in dictionaries. For polite situations, verbs take a different ending, typically -masu. In Noun Town the game always shows the dictionary form.

How is あげる written in Japanese?

あげる is written using hiragana. Hiragana is the basic Japanese syllabary used for native words and grammatical elements.

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.