How do you say "open" in Japanese?

In Japanese, "open" is 開ける (akeru). It is a verb pronounced "ah-keh-roo".

Listen to the pronunciation:

Pronunciation

開ける is written in kanji and hiragana. Romanised as akeru, it sounds roughly like "ah-keh-roo" to an English ear.

Example sentence

子供たちは開けますのが楽しそうです。

Kodomotachi wa akemasu no ga tanoshisou desu.

The children seem to enjoy opening.

Usage notes

開ける means to open in Japanese. This is an everyday verb that learners encounter early. Mastering its masu form (開けます) and te-form opens up many sentence patterns.

Related words

Curated by Jack Ratcliffe

Practice 開ける and hundreds more Japanese words in the game.

Buy on Steam

Questions about 開ける

How do you pronounce 開ける?

開ける is romanised as akeru. Say it roughly like "ah-keh-roo" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is 開ける formal or casual?

開ける 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 開ける written in Japanese?

開ける 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.