How are sports and hobbies expressed in simple Japanese phrases

Sports and hobbies in simple Japanese phrases are often expressed using basic vocabulary linked with verbs and nouns. Common phrases to express interest or participation in sports or hobbies include:

• サッカーをします (Sakkā o shimasu) – “I play soccer.”
• テニスが好きです (Tenisu ga suki desu) – “I like tennis.”
• 水泳を習っています (Suiei o naratteimasu) – “I am learning swimming.”
• 読書が趣味です (Dokusho ga shumi desu) – “Reading is my hobby.”
• 映画を見るのが好きです (Eiga o miru no ga suki desu) – “I like watching movies.”

In these phrases, the sport or hobby noun is used with verbs like します (“do/play”), 好きです (“like”), or 習っています (“am learning”), making them easy and practical for beginners to state their activities or interests in Japanese.

These simple structures effectively convey sports and hobbies by combining a sport or hobby noun with common verbs or expressions of liking. ¹

References

• Kattobase: The linguistic structure of Japanese baseball chants

• Creative and Context-Aware Translation of East Asian Idioms with GPT-4

• Japanese Idiom Learning through Cognitive Linguistics Concept (Idioms Presentation)

• TYPICAL ENGLISH SPORTS IDIOMS WITH NEGATIVE MEANING

• Typology Lexical Verb ‘To Use’ in Japan: Natural Semantics Metalanguage Study