How do you say "work" in Japanese?

In Japanese, "work" is 働く (hataraku). It is a verb pronounced "hah-tah-rah-koo".

Listen to the pronunciation:

Pronunciation

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

Example sentence

私は働くことが好きです。

Watashi wa hataraku koto ga suki desu.

I enjoy working.

Usage notes

働く means to work in Japanese. This is an everyday verb that learners encounter early. Mastering its masu form (働きます) and te-form opens up many sentence patterns.

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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 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 働く written in Japanese?

働く 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.