How do you say "talk" in Japanese?

In Japanese, "talk" is 話す (hanasu). It is a verb pronounced "hah-nah-soo".

Listen to the pronunciation:

Pronunciation

話す is written in kanji and hiragana. Romanised as hanasu, it sounds roughly like "hah-nah-soo" to an English ear.

Example sentence

彼女は公園で話します。

Kanojo wa kouen de hanashimasu.

She to talks in the park.

Usage notes

話す means to talk in Japanese. This is an everyday verb that learners encounter early. Mastering its masu form (話します) and te-form opens up many sentence patterns.

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Questions about 話す

How do you pronounce 話す?

話す is romanised as hanasu. Say it roughly like "hah-nah-soo" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is 話す formal or casual?

話す 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 話す written in Japanese?

話す 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.