Japanese: Everyday Phrases
Japanese · Getting by
How to say I need to study in Japanese
勉強しなければなりません。
benkyō shinakereba narimasen
Literally "if I do not study, it will not do". Japanese has no verb for "must"; obligation is built by negating the verb twice.
What people actually say: 勉強しなきゃ。 (benkyō shinakya) The contraction everybody actually uses — "I gotta study". The long form above is what you write; this is what you say.
The phrases around it
| English | Japanese | Note |
|---|---|---|
| I need to study. (polite) | 勉強しなければなりません。 | benkyō shinakereba narimasen — the full written form. |
| I have to study. (plain) | 勉強しなければならない。 | benkyō shinakereba naranai |
| I gotta study. (casual) | 勉強しなきゃ。 | benkyō shinakya — the one you will hear. |
| I need to study. (literal) | 勉強する必要があります。 | benkyō suru hitsuyō ga arimasu — "there is a need to study". |
| I need to study more. | もっと勉強しなきゃ。 | motto benkyō shinakya |
| I have to study for the test. | テストの勉強をしなきゃ。 | tesuto no benkyō o shinakya |
| I need to study Japanese. | 日本語を勉強しなきゃ。 | nihongo o benkyō shinakya |
| I am studying. | 勉強しています。 | benkyō shite imasu |
| I studied all night. | 一晩中勉強しました。 | hitobanjū benkyō shimashita |
| I have an exam tomorrow. | 明日試験があります。 | ashita shiken ga arimasu |
Why the phrase is so long
There is no Japanese word for "must". The construction is a double negative: take the verb, make it negative conditional (しなければ, "if I do not do it"), and add "it will not do" (なりません). Hence a five-syllable English sentence becoming eleven. Every "must" in Japanese is built this way, so learning the shape once covers all of them.
Nobody says the long one
In conversation it collapses: なければならない becomes なきゃ, and the ending is usually dropped altogether. 勉強しなきゃ is complete and natural on its own. 勉強しないと is the other everyday version, and means the same thing.
勉強 is a noun, and する makes it a verb
勉強 (benkyō) is "study" as a thing. 勉強する is "to study". That is why you can also say 勉強をする with the object marker, and why テストの勉強 — "study for the test" — works as a noun phrase. Dozens of Japanese verbs are built this way, so it is worth noticing the first time.