年
[nẽ̞ɴ]
In Japanese, the word for "years" is 年.
年 refers to a period of twelve months. While you can use the Western calendar, known as seireki, the official way to express years in Japan is through the use of nengo, also known as era names.
How does it change in a sentence?
Additionally, adding 目 (me) to 年 (nen) to create 何年目 changes the meaning from a count of elapsed years to the ordinal number of the year currently in progress, such as "which year of a sequence."
Did you know?
- The Japanese word toshi for 'year' originally referred to grain or the annual rice harvest. This reflects a culture where the passage of time was measured by the agricultural cycle.
- The word nen is a loan from Middle Chinese, but the native Japanese reading toshi evolved independently from Proto-Japonic roots. Most Japanese words for time have this split between native and imported origins.
- In Japanese, the word toshi can be used to refer to a person's age, but doing so can be seen as blunt or overly direct compared to the more formal term nenrei.
Examples in context
- 年月が経った。Years passed.The sentence using 年 is useful for describing the passage of time.Tatoeba #121808 by bunbuku, translation #282197 by CK
- 結婚して何年？How many years have you been married?The sentence using 年 is useful for asking about the number of years elapsed in a marriage.Tatoeba #12383490 by small_snow, translation #2911961 by CK
- 入社して何年目？How many years have you been with this company?The sentence using 年 is useful for asking which year of employment someone is currently in.Tatoeba #11559581 by small_snow, translation #10786846 by CK
- 二千二十年Ni-sen-ni-juu-nen
- 丑年Ushi-doshi
- 二千十一年Nisen-juu-ichi-nen
- 千九百九十八年Sen-kyuu-hyaku-kyuu-juu-hachi-nen
- 千九百八十七年Sen-kyuu-hyaku-hachi-juu-nana-nen
- 815 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Misaki and Ren are talking about their friendship.
- 美咲 Misaki私たちはもう五年も友達だね。Watashitachi wa mou gonen mo tomodachi dane.We've been friends for five years already.
- 蓮 Ren本当に、時間が経つのは早いな。Hontouni, jikan ga tatsu no wa hayai na.Really, time flies fast.
- 美咲 Misakiあと何年経ったら大人になるのかな。Ato nannen tattara otona ni naru no kana.I wonder how many more years until we become adults.
- 蓮 Renそれは考えない方がいいよ。Sore wa kangaenai hou ga ii yo.It's better not to think about that.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry 年, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries 年, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
