How do you say "to work" in Japanese?

働く

hataraku

Verb Kanji

In Japanese, "to work" is 働く (hataraku).

Listen to the pronunciation:

Free Japanese learning game. No sign-up, play in browser. See all games

Pronunciation

働く is written using kanji. Romanised as hataraku, it sounds roughly like "hah-tah-rah-koo" to an English ear.

Writing and usage

The kanji 働 combines the person radical with a phonetic element suggesting effort and production. One of the most practical verbs for employment and daily tasks.

Example sentence

私は働くことが好きです。

Watashi wa hataraku koto ga suki desu.

I enjoy working.

Test your Japanese knowledge in our free browser games.

How to remember 働く

A person putting in effort and moving forward. See the person radical and connect it to someone actively working.

Related words

Browse all Japanese words in the glossary.

See more Japanese verbs.

Questions about 働く

How do you pronounce 働く?

働く is romanised as hataraku. Say it roughly like "hah-tah-rah-koo" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is 働く formal or casual?

働く is a neutral, everyday word that works in both casual and polite speech. The level of formality comes from the sentence structure around it, not from the word itself.

How is 働く written in Japanese?

働く is written using kanji. The kanji 働 combines the person radical with a phonetic element suggesting effort and production.

Where can I practice Japanese words for free?

You can play free Japanese minigames in your browser on the Noun Town online games page, with no sign-up needed. Every word in the Japanese glossary also has native audio and an example sentence you can revisit any time.

"To work" in other languages

Curated by Jack Ratcliffe

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.

Noun Town language-learning game on PC, Mac and VR

The full experience

Noun Town on PC, Mac & VR

These browser games are just a taste. The full Noun Town is a bigger, deeper 3D world: explore a living town, talk to its characters and learn thousands of words in immersive VR, Mixed Reality, or on your computer. It's an award-winning game with 590+ reviews on Steam and 12 languages to learn.

See the full game ▶

Spot an error? Email us at contact@noun.town