How to Say "Two Days" in Japanese

二日

futsuka

The Japanese phrase for 'two days' is 二日 (futsuka).

二日 refers to a period of time lasting forty-eight hours. It can also be used to refer to the second day of the month.

What does it mean word for word?

The word is composed of the kanji for two (二) and day (日).

Adding the suffix '-me' (目) to 二日 changes the meaning from a duration of two days to the specific ordinal 'second day' (二日目).

futsuka

Instead, use the irregular reading futsuka.

The specific reading futsuka is a survivor of the Old Japanese language, preserved in modern speech through traditional counting.
Japanese uses a completely different set of irregular readings for the first ten days of the month than it does for counting general objects.
While futsuka means 'two days', it is often used in the phrase futsuka-kan to explicitly emphasize the duration of time rather than the date.

二日も待ったんですよ。
I waited for two days.
This sentence shows how to use 二日 to express a duration of time one waited.
Tatoeba #12296733 by small_snow, translation #12200320 by Miktsoanit
二日後に彼は帰ってきた。
He came back two days after.
This sentence demonstrates using 二日 to indicate a point in time in the future.
Tatoeba #123013 by bunbuku, translation #280987 by sundown
このミルクは二日はもつ。
The milk will keep for two days.
This sentence shows how to use 二日 to describe how long something will last.
Tatoeba #223124 by small_snow, translation #60455 by orcrist
今から二日間休みます。
I will take a two-day break starting from now.
二日おきに日本語の勉強をしています。
I study Japanese every other day.
18 more sentences on Tatoeba

Yui and Ren are discussing a travel plan.

結衣 Yui

京都に二日行きますか？
Kyoto ni futsuka ikimasu ka?
Will you go to Kyoto for two days?
蓮 Ren

いいえ、三日行きます。
Iie, mikka ikimasu.
No, I'm going for three days.
結衣 Yui

二日だと思っていました。
Futsuka da to omotte imashita.
I thought it was two days.
蓮 Ren

もっとゆっくり見たいんです。
Motto yukkuri mitai n desu.
I want to see things more slowly.

Sources

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