What does “yoroshiku” mean in Japanese?
“Yoroshiku” is a kind of magic word and cannot be perfectly translated into English. In reality, it is often translated as “treat me well”, “be kind to me”, “take care of me”, or even “nice to meet you”. Perhaps, the variety of the translations would be confusing to Japanese learners. In this blog post, therefore, I will explain this word in detail together with the grammatical background. And also, I will explain how to use it through example sentences. My explanations would help Japanese learners understand “yoroshiku” more clearly. Then, let’s get started!
Contents
Definition and meanings of “yoroshiku”
Let me start with the definition and meanings of “yoroshiku”.
- yoroshiku – 宜しく (よろしく) : an adverb, but often used as an individual word to mean ‘treat me well’, ‘be kind to me’, ‘take care of me’, ‘nice to meet you’, or such in Japanese.
This word has a lot of meanings, so would fit various situations: when we ask someone to do something; when we ask someone to take care of us; when we introduce ourselves to someone. To understand why this can happen, let me explain this word in detail together with the grammatical background.
What does “yoroshiku” literally mean in Japanese?
“Yoroshiku” was originally one conjugation of the adjective, “yoroshi”, which meant ‘not bad’ in the old Japanese language. People in the past used this adjective to literally describe something not bad. As times changed, they started to use it as an individual word to accept something or even someone. They thought that the concepts of “not bad” and “acceptable” were more or less the same. This shift in role affected also the role of “yoroshiku”. People started to use it to ask for acceptance. So, its literal meaning can be understood as “I’m acceptable for you,” for example. This sounds a bit weird, but this is the very beginning of the current usage of “yoroshiku” and the reason it can work in various situations to ask for acceptance.
So far, I’ve explained the definition and meanings of “yoroshiku” together with the grammatical background. Then, let me explain how to use it through the example sentences below.
Example #1: how to use “yoroshiku” in Japanese
watashi wa ringo desu. yoroshiku – 私は林檎です。宜しく (わたしはりんごです。よろしく)
I’m Ringo. Nice to meet you.
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 first sentence.
- ringo – 林檎 (りんご) : a noun meaning ‘apple’ in Japanese. This can also work as plural. Learn more about Japanese plural. This can be a female name 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 “ringo” to make it sound polite.
This is a typical usage of “yoroshiku”. In this example, it works as a part of the self-introduction. It has been translated as just “nice to meet you”, but can also contain the meanings of ‘please be kind to me’, ‘please take care of me’, and ‘please treat me well’. Again, but it is a kind of magic word. We can use it very conveniently.
Example #2: another usage of “yoroshiku”
「neko wo yoroshiku」 to kanojo ga it ta – 「猫を宜しく」と彼女が言った (「ねこをよろしく」とかのじょがいった)
“Please take care of my cat,” she said.
Below are the new words used in the example sentence.
- neko – 猫 (ねこ) : a noun meaning ‘cat’ in Japanese. This can also work as plural.
- wo – を : a case particle used to make the object word in a sentence. In the example, this is used after “neko” to make the object in the clause.
- to – と : a case particle working as a quote marker. In the example, this works after the clause to indicate what she said.
- 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 “kanojo” to make the subject in the sentence.
- it – 言っ (いっ) : one conjugation of the verb, “iu“, which means ‘to say’ 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 “it” to make its past tense form, “it ta”.
This is another typical usage of “yoroshiku”. In this example, it works as a part of the clause which means ‘please take care of my cat’. She asked the listener to accept and take care of her cat by saying that.
Summary
In this blog post, I’ve explained the definition and meanings of “yoroshiku” in detail together with the grammatical background. And also, I’ve explained how to use it through the example sentences. Let me summarize them as follows.
- yoroshiku – 宜しく (よろしく) : an adverb, but often used as an individual word to mean ‘treat me well’, ‘be kind to me’, ‘take care of me’, ‘nice to meet you’, or such in Japanese. Japanese native speakers use this word very conveniently to ask for acceptance.
Hope my explanations are understandable and helpful for Japanese learners.
