How to Say "Last Year" in Japanese

去年

kyonen[kʲo̞nẽ̞ɴ]

The English phrase 'last year' is translated into Japanese as 去年 (kyonen) or 昨年 (sakunen).

Meaning: year before this one (adv)

Ways to say it

“last year” in Japanese
Japanese	Romanization (Wiktionary)	IPA
去年	kyonen	[kʲo̞nẽ̞ɴ] (narrow)
昨年	sakunen	[sa̠kɯ̟nẽ̞ɴ] (narrow)

Both forms are used to refer to the year preceding the current one.

去年 is the standard, conversational way to say 'last year'.

kyonen

Japanese speakers often use the word 去年 alongside specific era names, such as 令和 (Reiwa). Because eras can change mid-year, people may specify both the era and the phrase to avoid chronological confusion.
The character 昨 in 昨年 is also used in 昨日 (kinō), meaning 'yesterday'. This creates a linguistic pattern where the same character marks the immediate past unit of time, whether it is a day or a year.
The word 去年 contains the character 去, which means 'to leave' or 'to go'. Literally, the phrase describes the year as something that has already departed.

去年の新人です。
I was a freshman last year.
This sentence uses 去年 to describe someone's status in the previous year.
Tatoeba #12703167 by small_snow, translation #11166721 by ddnktr
彼は昨年転校した。
He changed schools last year.
This sentence uses 昨年 to describe an action that occurred last year.
Tatoeba #106755 by bunbuku, translation #296931 by CK
昨年は赤字でした。
We went into the red last year.
This sentence uses 昨年 to describe a financial state from last year.
Tatoeba #169779 by small_snow, translation #244706 by CM
彼に会ったのは去年の夏でした。
I met him last summer.
去年の誕生日、どう過ごしたの？
How did you spend your birthday last year?
153 more sentences on Tatoeba

Two friends are talking about a trip they took.

陽葵 Himari

去年、どこに行ったの？
kyonen, doko ni itta no?
Where did you go last year?
大翔 Hiroto

北海道へ行ったよ。
hokkaido e itta yo.
I went to Hokkaido.
陽葵 Himari

いいなあ！私も去年行きたかった。
ii naa! watashi mo kyonen ikitakatta.
That's nice! I wanted to go last year, too.
大翔 Hiroto

すごく楽しかったよ。
sugoku tanoshikatta yo.
It was a lot of fun.

Sources

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