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Japanese vocabulary · Beginner

How do you say "whats up" in Japanese?

どうしたの?

doushitano?

Phrase Hiragana

In Japanese, "whats up" is どうしたの? (doushitano?).

Listen to the pronunciation:

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Pronunciation

Pronounce doh-shee-tah-noh, four syllables, casual and quick, the final no rises slightly like a real question.

Writing and usage

どうしたの? is written using hiragana. It's a phrase, and this word is also taught inside the Noun Town language learning game, where it appears in interactive lessons alongside hundreds of other everyday words.

Example sentence

whats up

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How to remember どうしたの?

Doushitano sounds like 'dosh, ee, tan, oh', picture a friend with a fresh tan asking, oh, what's up, what happened to you.

Related words

Browse all Japanese words in the glossary.

Questions about どうしたの?

How do you pronounce どうしたの??

Pronounce doh-shee-tah-noh, four syllables, casual and quick, the final no rises slightly like a real question.

Is どうしたの? formal or casual?

どうしたの? is a common everyday expression. Context and tone of voice matter more than the words themselves for how formal it sounds.

How is どうしたの? written in Japanese?

どうしたの? is written using hiragana. Romanised, it reads as doushitano?.

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.

"Whats up" 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. Want to play the full game? Get Noun Town on Steam.

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