Explore 晩 through familiar evening routines. Learn each reading as part of a whole word.

The idea

晩 has 12 strokes; follow the linked stroke-order diagram. Read 今晩（こんばん）, 昨晩（さくばん）, 毎晩（まいばん） and 晩ご飯（ばんごはん） as complete words.

Patterns to compare
Japanese wordReadingExample in context
今晩こんばんI will eat dinner at home tonight.
昨晩さくばんI slept well last night.
毎晩まいばんI read a book every evening.
晩ご飯ばんごはんWhat shall we have for dinner?

Examples

  • 今晩こんばんは家いえで夕食ゆうしょくを食たべます。I will eat dinner at home tonight.
  • 昨晩さくばんはよく眠ねむりました。I slept well last night.
  • 毎晩まいばん、本ほんを読よみます。I read a book every evening.
  • 晩ばんご飯はんは何なににしますか。What shall we have for dinner?
  • 今晩こんばん、友達ともだちに電話でんわします。I will call a friend tonight.
  • 昨晩さくばん、雨あめが降ふりました。It rained last night.

Read-aloud uses a synthetic Japanese voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.

Watch out

今晩 means tonight, while 昨晩 means last night. 晩ご飯 is dinner, not the time of night itself.

Try it yourself

  1. Write the reading of 今晩 in hiragana.

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    こんばん

    今晩 is こんばん: it refers to tonight, as in eating dinner at home tonight.

  2. Write the reading of 毎晩 in hiragana.

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    まいばん

    毎晩 is まいばん: 毎 means every, so the word refers to every evening.

  3. Choose the missing kanji: 昨＿（さくばん）［晩／朝］.

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    晩

    晩 completes 昨晩（さくばん）, last night; 朝 would instead refer to morning.

Use it today

Write 晩 following the diagram. Cover the table, read 今晩 and 毎晩, then make a sentence with one of them.