by Tomoyuki Higuchi
How do you say “I play basketball.” or “I play the guitar.” in Japanese?
Today’s phrase is :
I play _ (sports / instruments).
_ やってるよ。
yatteruyo
If you want to speak politely, you can say :
_ やってます。
yattemasu
When you want to say “I play _ .” in Japanese, put the name of the sport or instrument you play just before “やってるよ” or “やってます”.
For example, if you want to say “I play basketball.”, you can say like this :
- basketball = バスケットボール basuketto bōru
We often say “バスケ basuke” for short.
バスケやってるよ。
basuke yatteruyo
Or politely :
バスケやってます。
basuke yattemasu
If you want to say “I play the guitar.”, you can say like this :
- guitar = ギター gitā
ギターやってるよ。
gitā yatteruyo
Or politely :
ギターやってます。
gitā yattemasu
バスケ
basketball
ギター
the guitar
+
やってるよ
I play