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Japanese vocabulary · Beginner
How do you say "When is your birthday?" in Japanese?
誕生日はいつですか？
tanjōbi wa itsu desu ka ?
In Japanese, "When is your birthday?" is 誕生日はいつですか？ (tanjōbi wa itsu desu ka ?).
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Pronunciation
誕生日はいつですか？ is written using kanji. Romanised as tanjōbi wa itsu desu ka ?, it sounds roughly like "tah-n-joh-bee-wah-ee-tsoo-deh-soo-kah" to an English ear.
Writing and usage
Tanjoubi (誕生日) combines tan (birth), jo (birth again), and bi (day or sun). Itsu (いつ, when) is the question word for time.
Example sentence
「誕生日はいつですか？」は友達との会話でよく出てきます。
'Tanjoubi wa itsu desu ka?' wa tomodachi to no kaiwa de yoku detekimasu.
'When is your birthday?' comes up often in conversation with friends.
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How to remember 誕生日はいつですか？
Birthday is literally birth-day in Japanese. Itsu works for any temporal question, making it a universal time inquiry word.
Related words
- what can you do? 何ができますか？ nani ga dekimasu ka ？
- why are you here? なぜここにいるのですか？ naze koko ni iru no desu ka ？
- how old are you? 何歳ですか？ nan sai desu ka ？
- where are you from? 出身地はどこですか？ shusshinchi wa doko desu ka ？
- what is the temperature on thursday? 木曜日の気温は何度ですか？ mokuyōbi no kion wa nan dodesu ka ？
- what is your personality? どんな性格ですか？ donna seikaku desu ka ？
- what is the temperature on wednesday? 水曜日の気温は何度ですか？ suiyōbi no kion wa nan dodesu ka ？
- what is your job? 仕事は何ですか？ shigoto wa nan desu ka ？
- what is the temperature on sunday? 日曜日の気温は何度ですか？ nichiyōbi no kion wa nan dodesu ka ？
Browse all Japanese words in the glossary.
Questions about 誕生日はいつですか？
How do you pronounce 誕生日はいつですか?
誕生日はいつですか？ is romanised as tanjōbi wa itsu desu ka ?. Say it roughly like "tah-n-joh-bee-wah-ee-tsoo-deh-soo-kah" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.
Is 誕生日はいつですか formal or casual?
誕生日はいつですか？ 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 誕生日はいつですか written in Japanese?
誕生日はいつですか？ is written using kanji. Tanjoubi (誕生日) combines tan (birth), jo (birth again), and bi (day or sun).
Where can I practice Japanese words for free?
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"When is your birthday?" in other languages
- Korean 생일이 언제예요? (saengili eonjeyeyo?)
- Chinese 你的生日是哪天? (nǐ de shēng rì shì nǎ tiān ?)
- Spanish ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?
- Spanish (Latin America) ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?
- French Quand est ton anniversaire ?
- German Wann ist dein Geburtstag?
- Italian Quand'è il tuo compleanno?
- Russian Когда твой день рождения? (kogda tvoj denʹ roždenija?)
- Greek Πότε είναι τα γενέθλιά σου; (pote ine ta yenethlia su)
- Arabic عيد ميلادك إمتى؟ (aeed meelaedk 'imta?)
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