Japanese Refusal Guide: The Art of Saying No Politely

If you want to learn Japanese, you're going to have to learn to say no to some things. At Migaku, we think that one of those things is the classroom approach to language, but that soap box is for another blog post.

In this blog post, we're going to talk about how to say "no" in Japanese. We'll cover some more direct ways, some more indirect ways, and provide brief notes about when to use each one.

Here goes:

Direct ways to say no in Japanese

ううん and いえ are probably the two most common ways to express a negative. Both express a simple, direct 'no.'

いいや is used to negate what another person has said or to express an opposing feeling.

いやいや can be simply used as a stronger way to refuse something, but can also be used to deny that something is the case, followed by stating the opposite.

いいえ is the formal equivalent of ううん, and simply expresses a direct 'no.'

More indirect ways to say no in Japanese

遠慮(えんりょ)する​ can be translated as 'to refrain' and is used as a more indirect way to refuse something.

難(むずか)しい​ literally means 'difficult', but can be used in a similar way as one might use 'that might be difficult'. Even though 'difficult' does not mean impossible, using this phrase basically always means 'no.'

大丈夫(だいじょうぶ) is used in a similar way to 'No, thank you, I'm fine' is used in English.

結構(けっこう) is a pretty formal expression to say 'No, thank you.'

How to say no in Japanese... and 1,500 other words, too!

You were right to come to this blog post: "no" is most definitely a word that you need to know.

The thing is, before you'll be ready to start watching anime, j-dramas, and whatever you're into on YouTube, you'll also need to know somewhere in the ballpark of 1,500 other words, too.

The Migaku Japanese Academy walks you through each one, one at a time:

You'll first read about a grammar point, then commit it to memory by learning practical sentences that include it. These aren't just any sentences, either: each flashcard introduces one, and only one, new word. We'll periodically nudge you to review every sentence you practice, so you'll eventually remember them, so long as you stay consistent.

At a pace of 10 words per day—about half an hour of effort—you can go from zero to ready to start stumbling through Japanese Netflix in about six months.

Learn Japanese with Migaku

If you want to learn Japanese, remember this:

As a small heads up—if you want to make real progress, you don't really want to be poking around on the internet for blog posts like this one. In doing so, you're learning about Japanese, but what you need to be doing is spending time in Japanese. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the #1 reason people fail to learn Japanese (or any other language) is simply that they don't spend enough time interacting with it.

So, if I may be so bold:

Now go close this post and do something cool in Japanese 💪