What School Is Like

School in Japanese

This topic is about school. Every word comes with its Japanese script, a romaji spelling in brackets to help you say it, and the English meaning. Japanese is written left to right and mixes kanji with two syllable scripts.

Classroom words in Japanese

Learn these school words:

Match each Japanese word to its English meaning

The Japanese word for a teacher

Which Japanese word means 'a teacher'?

• 先生 せんせい (sensei)
• 学生 がくせい (gakusei)
• 本 ほん (hon)
• 教室 きょうしつ (kyoushitsu)

How the script works

Two things about Japanese writing. First, it mixes kanji (meaning-based characters, like 学校 がっこう) with two syllable scripts, hiragana and katakana. Katakana is used for borrowed words, like ペン (pen). Second, it is written left to right, and romaji spells it in our Latin letters. Learn each word with its romaji to say it.

School words

Select the TWO words connected with school.

• 授業 じゅぎょう (jugyou)
• テスト (tesuto)
• 海 うみ (umi)
• 母 はは (haha)

Match each Japanese word to how it is said

How do you say it?

The school 学校 がっこう is read _____. The teacher 先生 せんせい is read _____. A book 本 ほん is read _____. A lesson 授業 じゅぎょう is said _____.

Order the school day

Put a school day in a sensible order.

• Go to school (学校 がっこう, gakkou)
• Sit in the classroom (教室 きょうしつ, kyoushitsu)
• Study a lesson (授業 じゅぎょう, jugyou)
• Do your homework (宿題 しゅくだい, shukudai)

The Japanese word for a test

Which Japanese word means 'a test'?

• テスト (tesuto)
• ペン (pen)
• 教室 きょうしつ (kyoushitsu)
• 学生 がくせい (gakusei)

Reading the school words in Japanese

At school 学校 がっこう (read _____), a student 学生 がくせい (read _____) studies a lesson 授業 じゅぎょう (read _____) with a teacher 先生 せんせい (read _____).

Japanese puts is at the end

The school words become sentences once you add です (desu) at the end, where English would not put it. Japanese also uses two different words for "there is": - 私は学生です わたしはがくせいです = "I am a student". 私は marks who the sentence is about, then what you are, then です. Nothing moves to the middle the way English does. - 先生は学校にいます せんせいはがっこうにいます = "the teacher is at school". います (imasu) is "there is" for people and animals. For a thing that does not move, such as a book, you would say あります instead.

Japanese uses います for people and あります for things

Japanese uses います for people and あります for things. Which of these says "the teacher is at school"?

• 先生は学校にいます せんせいはがっこうにいます (sensei wa gakkou ni imasu)
• 先生は学校にあります せんせいはがっこうにあります (sensei wa gakkou ni arimasu)
• 先生は学校います せんせいはがっこういます (sensei wa gakkou imasu)
• 私は学生です わたしはがくせいです (watashi wa gakusei desu)

A school day

Choose the right Japanese word for each school situation.

• You want to say 'a book'. You choose:
• You need the word for 'a teacher'. You choose:
• To say 'homework', you choose:

Use what you know

Use what you know about Japanese to make each choice.

• In this module, kanji such as 学校 がっこう mainly help show...
• Katakana is mainly used for...
• 'A school' in Japanese is:

Well done

You have met the key Japanese school words: 学校 がっこう (gakkou, school), 先生 せんせい (sensei, teacher), 学生 がくせい (gakusei, student), 授業 じゅぎょう (jugyou, lesson), 本 ほん (hon, book) and テスト (tesuto, test). Keep practising the script and the romaji together.