How to say "just kidding!" in Japanese【with audio of native pronunciation】

2021年4月11日

It’s always fun to crack jokes with your friends. When you tell a joke, you probably say “just kidding” or “I’m kidding” after the joke.

We’ll share how to say “just kidding” in Japanese in this article.

Justina There are lots of phrases that mean “just kidding” in Japanese!

Atsuya We’ll also share about how to apologize when your joke was too much for your friend!

How to say “just kidding” in Japanese

冗談(じょうだん)だよ

When you want to say “just kidding,” you can say 冗談(じょうだん)だよ(jodan dayo). 冗談(じょうだん) means joke. だ is an auxiliary verb for determining something. よ is a particle to suggest something others don’t know.

冗談(じょうだん)だよ! literally means “it is a joke.” But Japanese people use this phrase to mean “just kidding!”

Atsuya

In conversation, Japanese people also say 冗談じょうだん冗談じょうだん！

なんてね！

You can also say なんてね (nan tene) after saying your joke to mean "just kidding." なんてね is a short form of なんて言(い)ってね . なんて is an adverbial particle to express an unexpected fact (or a joke). ね is a particle to soften your phrase.

なんちゃって！

なんちゃって (nan chatte) is another way to say “just kidding.” なんちゃって is also a short form of なんて言っちゃって. 言(い)っちゃって is spoken grammar of the perfect form of 言(い)う.

Justina

なんちゃって sounds little childlike. You can say なんちゃって when you want to say just kidding really funnily.

ウソだよ！

ウソだよ means “I'm just lying!” ウソ(uso) is lie in Japanese. だ is an auxiliary verb meaning to determine something. よ is a particle to suggest something others don’t know.

本気(ほんき)にしないでね

本気(ほんき)にしないでね (honkini shinaidene) means “don’t take it seriously.” 本気(ほんき)にしないでね consists of 本気(ほんき)にする and しないでね.　本気(ほんき)にする means to take something seriously. しないでね means to not do it.

How to apologize for your bad joke.

ごめんね、言(い)い過(す)ぎた

When you want to apologize to your friend for your bad joke, you can say ごめんね、言(い)い過(す)ぎた (gomenne iisugita).

ごめんね is a casual way to say “I’m sorry.” 言(い)い過(す)ぎた means “I went too far.”

It is fun to tell jokes but sometimes it hurts people’s feelings. If you notice that your joke hurts someone, let’s apologize honestly with this phrase.

Review

まとめ

How to say "just kidding" in Japanese
冗談じょうだんだよ (jodan dayo)
なんてね (nan tene)
なんちゃって (nan chatte)
ウソだよ (uso dayo)
本気ほんきにしないでね (honkini shinaidene)
How to apologize for your bad joke
ごめんね、言いい過すぎた (gomenne iisugita)

Atsuya

やった！宝くじで100万円当たったよ！
Yay! I won 1 million yen at the lottery!

ホントに！やったね！！
Really? Yay!

Justina

Atsuya

なんちゃって！
Just kidding!

．．．。
(serious face)

Justina

Atsuya

ごめんね(笑)
I’ｍ sorry lol

-Japanese
-Japanese, Japanese grammar, just kidding, なんちゃって, なんてね, 冗談だよ

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