うるさい – How to say Shut up in Japanese
Sometimes as humans we all need some peace and quiet. But, unfortunately, sometimes the people around us won’t stop talking. For these occasions we have in English, the phrase shut up or more politely be quiet. So if you are learning Japanese and want to tell someone shut up in Japan, or just want to know how to say shut up in Japanese you are in the right place.
INDEX
How to say Shut up in Japanese
There are a few ways to tell people to be quiet or to shut up in Japanese.
- うるさい – loud, annoying
- 黙れ – silence
- 静かに – be quiet
うるさい
First, this is probably the most common. うるさい is actually an adjective that means noisy or irritating. By saying this it is the equivalent of telling someone to shut up in Japanese. So, if you want to instead politely tell someone to be quiet, this is not the word to use.
There are also a few other adjectives that are similar but not as common.
- やかましい
- 騒がしい
- 騒々しい
黙れ
Next, 黙れ is the imperative form of the verb to be silent, 黙る. This is like telling someone silence. If you want to say it a little bit more politely you could say 黙って. But, depending on the situation or how you say it, or your intention it still won’t sound polite.
https://japaneseuniverse.com/2024/02/18/pac-man-in-japaneseconcepts-behind-development-to-global-icon/静かに
Finally, we have 静かに or 静かにしなさい. These means be quiet. This is the most polite way to say be quiet. There are other forms of this that are more polite such as 静かにしてください, or 静かにしてもらえませんか and so on. The nuances of the different polite forms you can use to tell someone to be quiet are beyond the scope of this post.
But, probably the best way to politely tell someone to be quiet would be to use body language. You could show someone that you are being inconvenienced by their talking and hope they catch onto it, or politely excuse yourself somehow. Or even you could say sorry and show you are busy, or whatever the situation requires.
