How do you say "line up" in Japanese?

In Japanese, "line up" is 並ぶ (narabu). It is a verb pronounced "nah-rah-boo".

Listen to the pronunciation:

Pronunciation

並ぶ is written in kanji and hiragana. Romanised as narabu, it sounds roughly like "nah-rah-boo" to an English ear.

Example sentence

私は並ぶことが好きです。

Watashi wa narabu koto ga suki desu.

I enjoy line up (people)ing.

Usage notes

並ぶ means to line up (people) in Japanese. This is an everyday verb that learners encounter early. Mastering its masu form (並びます) and te-form opens up many sentence patterns.

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Questions about 並ぶ

How do you pronounce 並ぶ?

並ぶ is romanised as narabu. Say it roughly like "nah-rah-boo" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is 並ぶ formal or casual?

並ぶ 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 並ぶ written in Japanese?

並ぶ 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.