学年
gakunen[ɡa̠kɯ̟nẽ̞ɴ]
In Japanese, the phrase for school grade is 学年 (gakunen).
学年 is used to refer to the specific year of schooling a student is currently in. In formal settings, it is more commonly used to describe grades in primary and secondary schools rather than for university or college levels.
What does it mean word for word?
The word is composed of the characters 学, meaning study or learning and 年, meaning year or age.
Which one should you use?
While 学年 refers to the student's grade level (e.g., 3rd grade), 成績 refers to academic grades or marks (e.g., an A or a high score).
How do you pronounce it?
gakunen
Did you know?
- The Japanese school year begins in April, meaning a student's 学年 (gakunen) changes in the spring rather than the autumn.
- Because the 学年 (gakunen) begins in April, a child's grade level is determined by whether their birthday falls before or after April 1st, rather than the calendar year.
- In Japanese schools, students do not usually say 'I am in 3rd grade' but instead say 三年生 (sannensei), which means 'third-year student'.
Examples in context
- 学年によってクラスが分かれます。Gakunen ni yotte kurasu ga wakaremasu.Classes are divided by school grade.
Example conversation
Two students are chatting during a break.
- 陽葵 Himari蓮くんは今、何学年？Ren-kun wa ima, nan gakunen?Ren, what school grade are you in now?
- 蓮 Ren僕は中学二年生だよ。Boku wa chuugaku ninensei dayo.I am a second-year middle school student.
- 陽葵 Himariそうなんだ！私は一つ上の学年だよ。Sou nanda! Watashi wa hitotsu ue no gakunen dayo.I see! I am one school grade above you.
- 蓮 Renやっぱり陽葵さんは先輩だね。Yappari Himari-san wa senpai dane.As I thought, Himari, you are my senior.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry 学年, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
