Maddies Manga

This is a word that is very commonly used in Japanese! No matter the genre or demographic of manga you’re reading, you’ll come across this word!

Example Sentences

First, let’s look at what the boy in our example picture is saying! First, let’s make a word bank!

English	Hiragana	Kanji	Romaji (reading)
Good grief	まったく	まったく＊	Mattaku
Healthy	げんき	元気	Genki
Not / isn’t	じゃない	じゃない	Janai

＊While there is kanji for this word, we tend to not use it when we’re using the “good grief” meaning!

Now, let’s write out what he said in romaji!:

”Mattaku… Genki janai desu ka”

Let’s change it to hiragana:

”まったく。。。げんき　じゃない　です　か”

And lastly, let’s add in the kanji:

”まったく。。。元気　じゃない　です　か”

We can translate this sentence using our word bank at the top:

“Good grief… You’re healthy, aren’t you?”

＊This sentence has a double negative, so it may be a little difficult to understand at first glance!

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What if we want to say… “I like high-spirited girls?” As in… I like girls who have a lot of energy!

First up, we need a word bank!

English	Hiragana	Kanji	Romaji (reading)
I	わたし	私	Watashi
Like	すき	好き	Suki
High-spirited / energetic	げんき（な）	元気（な）	Genki (na)
Girl(s)	おんなのこ	女の子	Onna no ko

Now that we know all of the relevant words, let’s put them together in a sentence!

First, in romaji only:

“Watashi wa genki’na onna no ko ga suki desu”

Now using hiragana:

”わたし　は　げんきな　おんな　の　こ　が　すき　です”

Now let’s add in the kanji:

”私　は　元気な　女の子　が　好き　です”

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Let’s try one more sentence! What if we want to say… “Please cheer up!“?

Let’s get the word bank started!

English	Hiragana	Kanji	Romaji (reading)
Please	ください	ください	Kudasai
Health / spirit	げんき	元気	Genki
To exert	だす	出す	Dasu

Alright, let’s make some sentences!

First, using romaji only:

“Genki dashite kudasai!”

Now using hiragana:

“げんき　だして　ください！”

Now let’s add in the kanji:

”元気　出して　ください！”

“Genki dashite” is a sort of set phrase, meaning “Cheer up!” / “Chin up!”

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And that’s genki! Have you ever heard this word before?

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