How do you say Awesome in Japanese?
The word you hear constantly is すごい (sugoi). It covers “amazing”, “awesome” and “wow” all at once, and it is casual.
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すごい！
sugoi
Amazing, awesome — the everyday reaction.
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すごいですね
sugoi desu ne
The polite version, for work or strangers.
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最高！
saikō
Literally “the highest” — the best, fantastic.
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素晴らしい
subarashii
Wonderful, splendid — more formal, good in writing.
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やばい！
yabai
Slang. Originally “dangerous”; younger speakers use it for both “awesome” and “terrible”, so tone carries the meaning.
1 translation in Japanese
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i discovered another example sentence:
'The circus performers were awesome, they did so many tricks.'
サーカスのパフォーマー素晴れらしい、彼ら多くのトリックでした。Human translation jamess
Use it in a sentence
- That’s awesome!すごい！Sugoi!
- That movie was awesome.あの映画は最高だった。Ano eiga wa saikō datta.
- Your Japanese is awesome.日本語が上手ですね。Nihongo ga jōzu desu ne.
- Awesome, thank you!すごい、ありがとう！Sugoi, arigatō!
Good to know
Adding です (desu) makes almost any of these polite: すごいです.
すごく (sugoku) is the “very” form: すごくおいしい — really delicious.
すごい has a kanji form (凄い) but is almost always written in kana; the kanji looks stiff in everyday messages.