How to say "If" in Japanese | 若し

If you are wondering what's the Japanese word for "If" you've come to the right place!

the Japanese word for "If" is "Moshi", written in japanese as "若し".

Here's a more detailed explanation:

The Japanese adverb '若し (もし)' means 'if' and is used to introduce a hypothetical or conditional situation. It is often paired with conditional forms of verbs or expressions to indicate a possibility or assumption. For example: If it rains tomorrow, I will stay home「もし明日雨が降ったら、家にいます」(もしあしたあめがふったら、いえにいます). If you need help, please tell me「もし助けが必要なら、教えてください」(もしたすけがひつようなら、おしえてください). This word is commonly used in polite or formal contexts and is essential for constructing conditional sentences in Japanese.

The Kanji are characters that represent meanings. As you can see, this word is made up of 1 Kanji:

The kanji "若" means "Young" and can be read as "Jaku", "Nyaku", "Mo" and "Waka"

Now, let's make sure you understand this word the other way around too.

What does "Moshi" mean in japanese?

"Moshi" means "If" .

To learn more about the kanji in this word, checkout this pages:

To make really sure you learn this word, We've prepared an interactive lesson for you. You are going to learn the readings and meanings of this word and of the characters that comprise it.

But first, you need to know a little bit about Hiragana and Katakana.

Hiragana and katakana are japanese syllabaries, this means that each character represents a syllable.

This are the characters you need to know for this lesson:

The hiragana "し" is read as "shi". The hiragana "じ" is read as "ji". The hiragana "く" is read as "ku". The hiragana "に" is read as "ni". The hiragana "も" is read as "mo". The hiragana "わ" is read as "wa". And The hiragana "か" is read as "ka".

About kanji, you need to know that most Kanji have two types of readings: Kunyomi, based on native japanese pronunciation. And onyomi, based on chinese pronunciation.