How do you say "read" in Japanese?

In Japanese, "read" is 読む (yomu). It is a verb pronounced "yoh-moo".

Listen to the pronunciation:

Pronunciation

読む is written in kanji and hiragana. Romanised as yomu, it sounds roughly like "yoh-moo" to an English ear.

Example sentence

彼女は公園で読みます。

Kanojo wa kouen de yomimasu.

She to reads in the park.

Usage notes

読む means to read in Japanese. This is an everyday verb that learners encounter early. Mastering its masu form (読みます) and te-form opens up many sentence patterns.

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Questions about 読む

How do you pronounce 読む?

読む is romanised as yomu. Say it roughly like "yoh-moo" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is 読む formal or casual?

読む 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 読む written in Japanese?

読む 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.