What does “mizu” mean in Japanese?
Native speakers say “mizu” to mean ‘water’ in Japanese. Probably, many Japanese learners know this word as it is often used in Japanese conversations. In this blog post, however, I will explain it in detail together with example sentences. My explanations would help Japanese learners understand “mizu” more clearly. Then, let’s get started!
Contents
Definition and meaning of “mizu”
Let me start with the definition and meaning of “mizu”.
- mizu – 水 (みず) : a noun meaning ‘water’ in Japanese. This necessarily means ‘cold water’ in Japanese.
Native speakers use this noun to refer to cold water in Japanese. For hot water, they say “oyu” instead. It’s also worth mentioning here that this kanji character is widely used in Japanese words related to water.
In Japanese, “Wednesday” is called “suiyoubi” which can be written in kanji as “水曜日”. So, Japanese people often use “水” as its abbreviation. We need to be careful with this fact.
The definition and meaning are simple and clear. Then, let me explain how to use “mizu” through the example sentences below.
Example #1: how to say “water” in Japanese
watashi wa mizu wo nomi tai – 私は水を飲みたい (わたしはみずをのみたい)
I want to drink water.
Below are the new words used in the example sentence.
- watashi – 私 (わたし) : a pronoun meaning ‘I’ in Japanese.
- wa – は : a binding particle working as a case marker or topic marker. In the example, this works after “watashi” to make the subject in the sentence.
- wo – を : a case particle used to make the object word in a sentence. In the example, this is used after “mizu” to make the object in the sentence.
- nomi – 飲み (のみ) : one conjugation of the verb, “nomu“, which means ‘to drink’ in Japanese. In the example, it has been conjugated for the better connection with its following word.
- tai – たい : an auxiliary verb used after a verb to make its desire form. Probably, this is well known as a part of Japanese tai form. In the example, this is used after “nomi” to make its desire form, “nomi tai”, which means ‘to want to drink’ in Japanese.
This is a typical usage of “mizu”. In this example, it works as a part of the commonly-used phrase, “mizu wo nomi tai”, which means ‘to want to drink water’ in Japanese.
Example #2: another usage of “mizu”
karada wo mizu de hiyashi te kudasai – 体を水で冷やしてください (からだをみずでひやしてください)
Please cool your body with water.
Below are the new words used in the example sentence.
- karada – 体 (からだ) : a noun meaning ‘body’ in Japanese. This can also work as plural. Learn more about Japanese plural.
- de – で : a case particle used to say what means someone uses to do something. In the example, this is used after “mizu” to say what means the listener uses to cool his/her body.
- hiyashi – 冷やし (ひやし) : one conjugation of the verb, “hiyasu”, which means ‘to cool’ in Japanese. In the example, it has been conjugated for the better connection with its following word.
- te – て : a conjunctive particle used after a verb, adjective, or auxiliary verb to make its te form. In the example, this is used after “hiyashi” to make its te form, “hiyashi te”. Verbs need to be changed to their te forms to be connected with “kudasai”.
- kudasai – ください : one conjugation of the verb, “kudasaru”, which means ‘to give’ or such in Japanese. When this follows a verb, however, this can work like an auxiliary verb to add the meaning of ‘please’. In the example, this works like an auxiliary verb after “hiyashi te” to add the meaning of ‘please’.
This is another typical usage of “mizu”. In this example, it works together with the case particle, “de”, to say “with water” in Japanese. Native speakers sometimes use this combination. When we want to mean ‘water’ in Japanese, anyway, this noun is always a very good option.
Summary
In this blog post, I’ve explained the definition and meaning of “mizu” in detail together with its kanji character. And also, I’ve explained how to use it through the example sentences. Let me summarize them as follows.
- mizu – 水 (みず) : a noun meaning ‘water’ in Japanese. Native speakers use this noun to refer to cold water in Japanese. For hot water, they say “oyu” instead. In Japanese, “Wednesday” is called “suiyoubi” which can be written in kanji as “水曜日”. So, Japanese people often use the kanji character, “水”, as its abbreviation. We need to be careful with this fact.
Hope my explanations are understandable and helpful for Japanese learners.
