空 – How do I say Sky in Japanese

hand throwing a paper plane

The word for sky in Japanese is sora. In Japanese, the kanji for sky is そら. So that pretty much answers the question. But if interested keep reading.

More Ways to Talk about the Sky in Japanese

So if you just want to talk about the sky, 空 is enough to get you by. However, there are more ways you can talk about the sky in Japanese.
https://japaneseuniverse.com/2024/02/18/pac-man-in-japaneseconcepts-behind-development-to-global-icon/
One side note before that about the Japanese language. Alright, so in Japanese, there are several compound words. That is words that are like two words stuck together. Often when words are created like this the first sound of the second word in the compound will change. In the word 空(sora) the first sound is s.  However, compounds that will change to z. There are reasons for that but they are beyond the scope of what we are talking about today. Any, just in case you were wondering why these words are pronounced the way they are, that is why.

青空 – Blue Sky

We all know that the sky is blue. Well, it depends on where you are at and the weather. Some places seem to be bluer than others. Anyway, the word for blue in Japanese is あお. When this word is added to it becomes 青空. This is pronounced aozora. So, as stated previously we can see the s becomes z. So the word for blue sky in Japanese is aozora.

夜空 – Night Sky

image showing the universe

Next, another common word is 夜空よぞら. This takes and adds meaning night to the front and makes 夜空. So the word for night sky in Japanese is yozora. One last thing to note about this word, as you can see よる by itself is yoru but when we use it in yozora it loses the ru.

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