昨夜
sakuya[sa̠kɯ̟ja̠]
In Japanese, last night can be expressed as 昨夜 (sakuya). If unsure, use 昨夜. Wiktionary also lists 夕べ (yūbe) and 昨晩 (sakuban).
Meaning: previous evening or night (noun)
Ways to say it
| Japanese | Romanization (Wiktionary) | IPA |
|---|---|---|
| 昨夜 | sakuya | [sa̠kɯ̟ja̠] (narrow) [jɯ̟ːbe̞] (narrow) |
| 夕べ | yūbe | [jɯ̟ːbe̞] (narrow) |
| 昨晩 | sakuban | [sa̠kɯ̟bã̠ɴ] (narrow) |
The terms used for last night can function as nouns meaning the previous evening or night, or as adverbs meaning during the night before today.
What does it mean word for word?
The term 昨夜 is composed of the characters for 'yesterday' and 'night'.
Which one should you use?
The forms differ primarily in their level of formality and tone. 昨夜 is a standard, neutral term used in both speech and writing. 夕べ is more colloquial and is frequently used in casual conversation, while 昨晩 is more formal and polite than the other forms.
Related words
How do you pronounce it?
sakuya
Did you know?
- The word 夕べ (yūbe) contains a hidden sense of 'vicinity' or 'area', because the suffix 辺 (be) originally referred to a specific place or direction.
- The word 昨夜 can be read as 'sakuya' or 'yūbe'. While they use the same characters, 'sakuya' is generally more formal and 'yūbe' is more conversational.
- The reading sakuya for the characters 昨夜 is actually a way to read the word through its Chinese-derived sounds rather than native Japanese sounds.
Examples in context
- 昨夜はごめん。I'm sorry about last night.This sentence is useful for apologizing about something that happened last night using 昨夜.Tatoeba #3621829 by arnab, translation #1671759 by Spamster
- 昨夜の写真よ。These are the photos from last night.This sentence is useful for describing photos from last night using 昨夜.Tatoeba #11052124 by small_snow, translation #10459795 by sundown
- 昨夜、見たわ。I saw it last night.This sentence is useful for stating that you saw something last night using 昨夜.Tatoeba #12418818 by small_snow, translation #3822042 by CK
- 昨晩、ディナーを外で食べました。Last night, I had dinner outside.
- 昨夜、映画を見に行きましたよ。Last night, I went to watch a movie.
- 276 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Yota and Yui are talking about a movie they watched.
- 陽太 Yota昨夜の映画、どうだった？Sakuya no eiga, dō datta?How was the movie last night?
- 結衣 Yuiとても感動したよ。Totemo kandō shita yo.I was very moved by it.
- 陽太 Yota昨夜は遅くまで起きていたね。Sakuya wa osoku made okite ita ne.You stayed up late last night, didn't you?
- 結衣 Yuiうん、面白すぎたから。Un, omoshirosugita kara.Yeah, because it was too interesting.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “last night” translations and entries 昨夜, 夕べ, 昨晩, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries 夕べ, 昨夜, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
