嬉しい（うれしい、ureshii）
- happy
Romaji:
Japanese:
Kana:
URE
嬉
うれ
SHI
し
し
I
い
い
嬉しい (うれしい, romaji: ureshii) means "happy" in Japanese. It is a N5 Mid-level I-Adjective word.
| Meaning: | happy |
| Level: | N5 Mid |
| Lexical Category: | I-Adjective (イ形容詞) |
Tags
Word Images
Related Kanjis
Adjective Conjugation
Basic Conjugation
Dict-form (辞書形) | うれしい嬉しい |
Polite-form (丁寧形) | 嬉しいです。 |
Connect-form (連用形) | 嬉しく + <Verb> |
Not-form (否定形) | 嬉しくない |
Advanced Conjugation
Past-form (過去形) | 嬉しかった |
Terminal-form (終止形) | 嬉しい。 |
If-form (仮定形) | 嬉しければ |
Noun-form (名詞形) | 嬉しさ |
AI Explanation
嬉しい means "happy," "glad," or "joyful." It describes a feeling of pleasure or contentment. It often refers to a positive emotional state arising from something good happening or being anticipated. The feeling is generally internal. It's important to note that 嬉しい usually describes the speaker's own feelings.
⚫︎試験に合格して嬉しいです。 Translation: I am happy to have passed the exam. ⚫︎プレゼントをもらって、とても嬉しいです。 Translation: I am very happy to receive a present. ⚫︎あなたの成功を心から嬉しいです。 Translation: I am sincerely happy for your success.
⚫︎嬉しい is used to express the speaker's own happiness or joy. ⚫︎It's typically used to describe a specific event or situation that causes the feeling. ⚫︎It's common to use adverbs like とても（very）, すごく（very much）, 本当に（really）, or すごく (extremely) to intensify the feeling of being 嬉しい. ⚫︎When expressing the happiness of others, you might use other words or sentence structures. You wouldn't normally say 彼は嬉しいです to mean "He is happy." Instead, use 彼は嬉しそうです (He looks happy), or something similar.
⚫︎The word is primarily written in hiragana as うれしい. ⚫︎The kanji form is 嬉しい. ⚫︎The okurigana (送りがな) - the hiragana suffix - is always しい.
⚫︎楽しい（tanoshii） - fun, enjoyable (broader range of contexts than 嬉しい) ⚫︎幸せ（shiawase) - happy, fortunate (more general sense of well-being) ⚫︎喜ばしい（yorokobashii) - delightful, gratifying (more formal and often used to describe something that has happened).
⚫︎悲しい（kanashii） - sad ⚫︎寂しい（sabishii） - lonely, lonesome ⚫︎辛い（tsurai） - painful, difficult
友達からの手紙を読んで、とても嬉しい気持ちになりました。 ・Translation: Reading a letter from my friend made me feel very happy. ・Explanation: This sentence describes the feeling of 嬉しい that the speaker experienced after reading a letter from a friend.
夏休みに旅行に行けることが決まって、嬉しい！ ・Translation: I'm happy that I can go on a trip during the summer vacation! ・Explanation: The speaker expresses their excitement and 嬉しい about the upcoming summer trip.
The etymology of 嬉しい is related to the word 売る（uru, to sell). The original meaning of this word is "to become (the situation) good". This evolved and now means "happy" or "glad". The root word's meaning of "selling" is now unrelated to the current usage.