How do you say "play" in Japanese?

In Japanese, "play" is 弾く (hajiku). It is a verb pronounced "hah-jee-koo".

Listen to the pronunciation:

Pronunciation

弾く is written in kanji and hiragana. Romanised as hajiku, it sounds roughly like "hah-jee-koo" to an English ear.

Example sentence

私は毎日弾きます。

Watashi wa mainichi hajikimasu.

I to play (the drums) every day.

Usage notes

弾く means to play (the drums) in Japanese. This is an everyday verb that learners encounter early. Mastering its masu form (弾きます) and te-form opens up many sentence patterns.

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Questions about 弾く

How do you pronounce 弾く?

弾く is romanised as hajiku. Say it roughly like "hah-jee-koo" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is 弾く formal or casual?

弾く 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 弾く written in Japanese?

弾く 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.