What does “yasai” mean in Japanese?
Native speakers say “yasai” to mean ‘vegetable’ in Japanese. Perhaps, this word is famous as the anagram of the name of the fighting species in the Dragon Ball series, “Saiya-jin”. In this blog post, however, I will focus on the word itself and explain it in detail based on its kanji expression. And also, I will explain how to use use it through example sentences. My explanations would help Japanese learners to understand “yasai” more clearly. Then, let’s get started!
Contents
Definition and meaning of “yasai”
Let me start with the definition and meaning of “yasai”.
- yasai – 野菜 (やさい) : a noun meaning ‘vegetable’ in Japanese. This can also work as plural. Learn more about Japanese plural.
Native speakers use this noun to refer to vegetables in Japanese. So, its usage is similar to those of the English nouns, “vegetables” and “greens”.
The definition and meaning are very simple and clear, I think. To understand this noun more clearly, however, let me explain its kanji characters in detail, one by one.
Yasai in kanji
The kanji expression of “yasai” consists of the following two kanji characters:
- 野 : a kanji character used to mean ‘field’ in Japanese.
- 菜 : a kanji character used to mean ‘vegetable’ in Japanese.
These two kanji characters tell us that “yasai” literally means ‘field vegetable’ in Japanese. This literal interpretation is not completely in line with the meaning as vegetables do not necessarily have to be in fields. It is still, however, very close to the actual 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 the meanings of the expressions they form. Actually, here, we could get the better understanding of “yasai” through the detailed kanji check above.
So far, I’ve explained the definition and meaning of “yasai” together with its kanji expression. Then, let me explain how to use it through the example sentences below.
Example #1: how to say “vegetables” in Japanese
watashi wa tokidoki yasai wo tabe masu – 私は時々野菜を食べます (わたしはときどきやさいをたべます)
I sometimes eat vegetables.
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.
- tokidoki – 時々 (ときどき) : an adverb of frequency meaning ‘sometimes’ in Japanese.
- wo – を : a case particle used to make the object word in a sentence. In the example, this is used after “yasai” to make the object in the sentence.
- tabe – 食べ (たべ) : one conjugation of the verb, “taberu“, which means ‘to eat’ in Japanese. In the example, it has been conjugated for the better connection with its following word.
- masu – ます : an auxiliary verb used after a verb to make it polite. Probably, this is well known as a part of Japanese masu form. In the example, this is used after “tabe” to make it sound polite.
This is a typical usage of “yasai”. When we want to say “vegetables” in Japanese, this noun is a very good option.
Example #2: another usage of “yasai”
kanojo wa yasai ga suki desu – 彼女は野菜が好きです (かのじょはやさいがすきです)
She loves vegetables.
Below are the new words used in the example sentence.
- kanojo – 彼女 (かのじょ) : a pronoun meaning ‘she’ 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 “yasai” to make the object in the sentence.
- suki – 好き (すき) : the stem part of the na-adjective, “sukina”, which means ‘favorite’ in Japanese. Native speakers, however, quite often use this as an individual word to mean ‘to like’ or ‘to love’. In the example, actually, this is used to mean ‘to love’ in Japanese.
- desu – です : an auxiliary verb used after a noun or adjective to make it polite. Probably, this is well known as a part of Japanese desu form. In the example, this is used after “suki” to make it sound polite.
This is another typical usage of “yasai”. In this example, it works as a part of the commonly-used phrase, “yasai ga suki desu”, which politely means ‘to love/like vegetables’ in Japanese.
Summary
In this blog post, I’ve explained the definition and meaning of “yasai” 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.
- yasai – 野菜 (やさい) : a noun meaning ‘vegetable’ in Japanese. This can also work as plural. These two kanji characters literally mean ‘field vegetable’ in Japanese. This literal interpretation is not completely in line with the meaning as vegetables do not necessarily have to be in fields. It is still, however, very close to the actual meaning. When we want to say “vegetable” or “vegetables” in Japanese, this noun is always a very good option.
Hope my explanations are understandable and helpful for Japanese learners.