How to say “midnight” in Japanese
Japanese people would say “mayonaka”. It is the Japanese word for ‘midnight’. In this blog post, I will explain this word in detail based on its kanji expression. And also, I will explain how to use it through example sentences. Let’s get started!
Contents
Definition and meaning of “mayonaka”
Let me start with the definition and meaning of “mayonaka”
- mayonaka – 真夜中 (まよなか) : a noun meaning ‘midnight’ in Japanese.
Grammatically this is a noun, but can also work as an adverb. In Japanese, many time-related nouns can also work as adverbs. “Mayonaka” is one of them. This is a trait of Japanese time-related nouns, but it is not unique to the Japanese language. In fact, the English word, “tomorrow”, can also work as both a noun and an adverb. So, Japanese learners, especially those who are familiar with English, can easily understand this point, I think.
The meaning of “mayonaka” is very simple and clear, I think. To understand this word more clearly, however, let me explain its kanji characters in detail, one by one.
“Mayonaka” in kanji
Below are the kanji characters used in “mayonaka”.
- 真 : a kanji character often used as a prefix to add the meaning of ‘true’, ‘real’, or ‘middle’ to its following word. This kanji can also be found in other words like “shashin“.
- 夜 : a kanji character used to mean ‘night’ in Japanese. This kanji can also be found in other words like “yoake“.
- 中 : a kanji character used to mean ‘middle’, ‘center’, or ‘inside’.
From these three kanji characters, we can understand that “mayonaka” literally means ‘truly middle of the night’. This kanji concept seems to be in line with the meaning.
When we meet new kanji expressions, we should check their kanji characters in detail to understand their meanings clearly and deeply. In many cases, kanji characters tell us a lot about meanings of words they form. Actually, here, we could get the better understanding of “mayonaka” through the detailed kanji check above.
Before explaining how to use “mayonaka”, let me explain its related word, “yonaka”, as follows.
Definition and meaning of “yonaka”
Below are the definition and meaning of “yonaka”.
- yonaka – 夜中 (よなか) : a noun meaning ‘night’, ‘nighttime’, ‘late time at night’, or ‘midnight’ in Japanese.
These two kanji characters literally mean ‘middle of the night’. So, technically, it can mean ‘midnight’. In most cases, however, “yonaka” means ‘nighttime’ or ‘late time at night’.
Next, then, let me explain how to use “mayonaka” through the example sentences below.
Example #1: how to say “midnight” in Japanese
watashi tachi wa mayonaka ni ie ni kaet ta – 私達は真夜中に家に帰った (わたしたちはまよなかにいえにかえった)
We came home at midnight.
Below are the new words used in the example sentence.
- watashi – 私 (わたし) : a pronoun meaning ‘I’ in Japanese.
- tachi – 達 (たち) : a suffix used after a noun or pronoun to make its plural form. In the example, this is used after “watashi” to make its plural form, “watashi tachi”, which means ‘we’ in Japanese. Learn more about Japanese plural.
- wa – は : a binding particle working as a case marker or topic marker. In the example, this is used after “watashi tachi” to make the subject in the sentence.
- ni – に : the first “ni” in the example is a case particle used to indicate a time when someone does something. It is used after “mayonaka” to say when “watashi tachi” came home.
- ie – 家 (いえ) : a noun meaning ‘house’ or ‘home’ in Japanese.
- ni – に : the second “ni” in the example is a case particle used to indicate a place to which someone or something goes. It is used after “ie” to say where “watashi tachi” came.
- kaet – 帰っ (かえっ) : one conjugation of the verb, “kaeru”, which means ‘to go back’ or ‘to return’ in Japanese. In the example, it has been conjugated for the better connection with its following word.
- ta – た : an auxiliary verb used after a verb, adjective, or auxiliary verb to make its past tense form. In the example, this is used after “kaet” to make its past tense form, “kaet ta”.
This is a typical usage of “mayonaka”. In this example, it works together with “ni” to say “at midnight” in Japanese.
Example #2: another usage of “mayonaka”
mayonaka no tsuki ga kirei deshi ta – 真夜中の月が綺麗でした (まよなかのつきがきれいでした)
The midnight moon was beautiful.
Below are the new words used in the example sentence.
- no – の : a case particle used to join two nouns. Normally, the preceding noun can work to modify the meaning of the following noun. In the example, this joins “mayonaka” and “tsuki”. The formed phrase literally means ‘midnight moon’.
- tsuki – 月 (つき) : a noun meaning ‘the moon’ in Japanese.
- ga – が : a case particle used to make the subject word or the object word in a sentence. In the example, this is used after “mayonaka no tsuki” to make the subject in the sentence.
- kirei – 綺麗 (きれい) : one conjugation of the na-adjective, “kireina“, which means ‘beautiful’ in Japanese. In the example, it has been conjugated for the better connection with its following word.
- deshi – でし : one conjugation of the auxiliary verb, “desu”, which is used after a noun or adjective to make it polite. In the example, this is used after “kirei” to make it sound polite.
This is another typical usage of “mayonaka”. In this example, it works together with “no” to modify the meaning of “tsuki”. Anyway, when we want to say “midnight” in Japanese, this word would be a very good choice.
Summary
In this blog post, I’ve explained “mayonaka” in detail based on its kanji expression. And also, I’ve explained how to use it through the example sentences. Let me summarize them as follows.
- mayonaka – 真夜中 (まよなか) : a noun meaning ‘midnight’ in Japanese. These three kanji characters literally mean ‘truly middle of the night’. This kanji concept seems to be in line with the meaning. This word can also work as an adverb to say “midnight” in Japanese.
- yonaka – 夜中 (よなか) : a noun meaning ‘night’, ‘nighttime’, ‘late time at night’, or ‘midnight’ in Japanese. These two kanji characters literally mean ‘middle of the night’. In many cases, however, this word means ‘nighttime’ or ‘late time at night’.
Hope my explanations are understandable and helpful for Japanese learners.
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