How do you say "wake up" in Japanese?

In Japanese, "wake up" is 起こす (okosu). It is a verb pronounced "oh-koh-soo".

Listen to the pronunciation:

Pronunciation

起こす is written in kanji and hiragana. Romanised as okosu, it sounds roughly like "oh-koh-soo" to an English ear.

Example sentence

私は起こすことが好きです。

Watashi wa okosu koto ga suki desu.

I enjoy wake uping.

Usage notes

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

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Questions about 起こす

How do you pronounce 起こす?

起こす is romanised as okosu. Say it roughly like "oh-koh-soo" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is 起こす formal or casual?

起こす 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 起こす written in Japanese?

起こす 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.