What does “kinou” mean in Japanese?
There are some homophones in Japanese, but native speakers say “kinou” normally to mean ‘yesterday’ in daily conversations. Perhaps, some Japanese learners know this word as it is often used in Japanese textbooks. In this blog post, however, I will explain this word in detail based on its kanji expression. And also, I will explain how to use it through example sentences. My explanations would help Japanese learners understand “kinou” more clearly. Then, let’s get started!
Contents
Definition and meaning of “kinou”
Let me start with the definition and meaning of “kinou”.
- kinou – 昨日 (きのう) : a noun meaning ‘yesterday’ in Japanese.
Grammatically, this is a noun. In reality, this can also work as an adverb almost everywhere in a sentence. In Japanese, many time-related nouns can also work as adverbs. “Kinou” is one of them. Perhaps, this fact is a bit weird to Japanese learners. Interestingly, however, this is not unique to Japanese. In fact, “yesterday” in English can 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 definition and meaning are very simple and clear. To understand this noun more clearly, however, let me explain its kanji characters in detail, one by one.
Kinou in kanji
The kanji expression of “kinou” consists of the following two kanji characters:
- 昨 : a kanji character often used as a prefix to add the meaning of ‘last’.
- 日 : a kanji character widely used to mean ‘day’ in Japanese.
These two kanji characters tell us that “kinou” literally means the ‘last day’ in Japanese. This literal interpretation is 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 “kinou” through the detailed kanji check above.
So far, I’ve explained the definition and meaning of “kinou” together with its kanji characters. Then, let me explain how to use it through the example sentences below.
Example #1: how to say “yesterday” in Japanese
kinou kanojo to umi ni it ta – 昨日彼女と海に行った (きのうかのじょとうみにいった)
Yesterday, I went to the sea with her.
Below are the new words used in the example sentence.
- kanojo – 彼女 (かのじょ) : a pronoun meaning ‘she’ in Japanese.
- to – と : a case particle used to say with whom someone does something. In the example, this is used after “kanojo” to say with whom the speaker went to the sea.
- umi – 海 (うみ) : a noun meaning ‘sea’ or ‘ocean’ in Japanese.
- ni – に : a case particle used to say where someone or something goes. In the example, this is used after “umi” to say where the speakers went.
- it – 行っ (いっ) : one conjugation of the verb, “iku“, which means ‘to go’ 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. Probably, this is well known as a part of Japanese ta form. In the example, this is used after “it” to make its past tense form, “it ta”.
This is a typical usage of “kinou”. In the example, it works as an adverb at the beginning of the sentence to say “yesterday” in Japanese. When we want to say “yesterday” in Japanese, this is a very good option.
Example #2: another usage of “kinou”
kinou wa tsuki no hikari ga utsukushikat ta – 昨日は月の光が美しかった (きのうはつきのひかりがうつくしかった)
The moonlight was beautiful yesterday.
Below are the new words used in the example sentence.
- wa – は : a binding particle working as a case marker or topic marker. In the example, this works as a topic marker after “kinou” to put a focus on it.
- tsuki – 月 (つき) : a noun meaning ‘the moon’ in Japanese.
- no – の : a case particle used to join two nouns. Normally, the first one can work as a modifier to describe the second. In the example, this is used to join “tsuki” and “hikari”. The formed phrase literally means ‘the light of the moon’ in Japanese. Word orders in Japanese and English are different, but the role of this case particle is similar to that of the English preposition, “of”. In the example, the phrase has been translated as just ‘the moonlight’, though.
- hikari – 光 (ひかり) : a noum meaning ‘light’ 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 the noun phrase, “tsuki no hikari”, to make the subject in the sentence.
- utsukushikat – 美しかっ (うつくしかっ) : one conjugation of the i-adjective, “utsukushii“, which means ‘beautiful’ in Japanese. In the example, it has been conjugated for the better connection with its following word.
This is another typical usage of “kinou”. In this example, it works together with the binding particle, “wa”, to make the adverb phrase which means ‘yesterday’ in Japanese.
Summary
In this blog post, I’ve explained the definition and meaning of “kinou” 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.
- kinou – 昨日 (きのう) : a noun meaning ‘yesterday’ in Japanese. This can also work as an adverb almost everywhere in a sentence. These two kanji characters literally mean the ‘last day’. This literal interpretation is very close to the actual meaning. When we want to say “yesterday” in Japanese, this is always a very good option.
Hope my explanations are understandable and helpful for Japanese learners.