How do you say "turn on" in Japanese?

In Japanese, "turn on" is つける (tsukeru). It is a verb pronounced "tsoo-keh-roo".

Listen to the pronunciation:

Pronunciation

つける is written in hiragana. Romanised as tsukeru, it sounds roughly like "tsoo-keh-roo" to an English ear.

Example sentence

私は毎日つけます。

Watashi wa mainichi tsukemasu.

I to turn on (a light) every day.

Usage notes

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

Related words

Curated by Jack Ratcliffe

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

Buy on Steam

Questions about つける

How do you pronounce つける?

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

Is つける formal or casual?

つける 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 つける written in Japanese?

つける is written using hiragana. Hiragana is the basic Japanese syllabary used for native words and grammatical elements.

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.