What does warau mean in Japanese?

It’s time for our daily Japanese vocabulary! It’s important to study a little bit every day, so let’s work hard to remember one new word every single day.

Today’s word is… warau!

~ Please remember that I use a mix of formal and casual Japanese in these posts! I use the type of language often found in shoujo manga~

Note: the photo is from chapter 1, volume 1 of こちら「運」命の恋ですか? You can check it out for yourself here!

What does warau mean?

Warau is an う verb in Japanese.

Warau means “to laugh” in English.


The Kanji, it’s meaning, and it’s reading in hiragana

We use the following kanji when writing warau: 笑.


We can write “warau” using hiragana like this: わらう.

Put together the kanji and hiragana, and we get: 笑う.


Let’s try using わらう・笑う・warau in a sentence!

Example 1

English: Just be the way of laughter, I knew it was him.

Romaji only: Warai kata dake de, kare da tte wakatteita.

Hiragana only: わらい かた だけ で、かれ だ って わかっていた。

Final: 笑い方だけで、彼だって分かっていた。


Example 2

English: I want to live a life where I can always laugh.

Romaji only: Itsu demo waratte irareru seikatsu ga shitai.

Hiragana only: いつ でも わらって いられる せいかつ が したい。

Final: いつでも笑っていられる生活がしたい。


Example 3

English: It seems like I’m drawn to people who are always laughing, like her.

Romaji only: Kanojo mitai ni, itsumo waratteiru hito ni hikareteiru mitai.

Hiragana only: かのじょ みたい に、いつも わらっている ひと に ひかれている みたい。

Final: 彼女みたいに、いつも笑っている人に惹かれているみたい。


Example 4

English: You haven’t been laughing at all recently… are you okay?

Romaji only: Saikin wa zenzen waratteinai kedo… daijoubu?

Hiragana only: さいきん は ぜんぜん わらっていない けど。。だいじょうぶ?

Final: 最近は全然わらっていないけど。。大丈夫?


Example 5

English: I can’t laugh at his jokes.

Romaji only: Kare no joudan ni waraenai wa.

Hiragana only: かれ の じょうだん に わらえない わ。

Final: 彼の冗談に笑えないわ。


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I’m Maddie

Welcome to my blog! I want to share my two passions with everyone who visits: reading manga, and studying Japanese. I hope that you enjoy your time here!

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