How to say “best friend” in Japanese | 親友 (しんゆう、shin’yū)

11.12.2023

The Japanese vocabulary「親友 (しんゆう、shin’yū)」means “best friend.” Please learn the pronunciation and the example sentences.

Japanese Vocabulary and the Meaning

Key Word親友
Hiraganaしんゆう
Romaji Readingshin’yū
English Meaningbest friend

The Correct Japanese Pronunciations

Please learn the pronunciation by watching the attached video. You can also learn example sentences.

The Example Japanese Sentences

It is important to have skills in both non-honorific and honorific languages in order to use Japanese correctly.

Japanese Sentence　私わたしの親友しんゆうは東京とうきょうに住すんでいる。
Romaji ReadingWatashi no shin’yū wa Tōkyō ni sunde iru.
English MeaningMy best friend lives in Tokyo. (Plain Form)
Japanese Sentence私の親友は東京に住んでいます。
Romaji ReadingWatashi no shin’yū wa Tōkyō ni sunde imasu.
English MeaningMy best friend lives in Tokyo. (Polite Form)
Japanese Sentence私わたしの親友しんゆうはすごく頭あたまが良いい。
Romaji ReadingWatashi no shin’yū wa sugoku atama ga yoi.
English MeaningMy best friend is very smart. (Plain Form)
Japanese Sentence私の親友はすごく頭が良いです。
Romaji ReadingWatashi no shin’yū wa sugoku atama ga yoi desu.
English MeaningMy best friend is very smart. (Polite Form)
Japanese Sentence中学生ちゅうがくせいになって、親友しんゆうとは疎そ遠えんになった。
Romaji ReadingChūgakusei ni natte, shin’yū towa soen ni natta.
English MeaningWhen I became a junior high student, I lost contact with my best friends./　When I entered middle school, I lost contact with my best friends.
(Plain Form)
Japanese Sentence中学生になって、親友とは疎遠になりました。
Romaji ReadingChūgakusei ni natte, shin’yū towa soen ni narimashita.
English MeaningWhen I became a junior high student, I lost contact with my best friends./　When I entered middle school, I lost contact with my best friends.
(Polite Form)
To Have Correct Japanese Language Skills

We teach Japanese to non-native Japanese learners. Judging from our experience, 90% of Japanese learners use incorrect Japanese and often speak rudely, even though they have lived in Japan for many years.

Therefore, we created two services. One is our “private Japanese conversation lesson” and the other is the “Daily Japanese Mail Support” service.

In the “private Japanese conversation lesson,” you can talk with a native Japanese teacher. Let us practice conversation together!

private Japanese conversation lesson

In the “Daily Japanese Mail Support" service, we will check your Japanese using email daily. Please show us the Japanese sentences that you wrote, your pronunciations, your handwritten Japanese characters, and so on. You can also ask us questions about Japanese.

Daily Japanese Mail Support

If you are a member of our private lesson or “Daily Japanese Mail Support,” we can check and correct your Japanese every day.

The details are on our website: https://ichiwebsite.com/

Human and Society
Ichiyo's Japanese Learning Site