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Fran Wrigley 10/08/2021 Fran Wrigley 10/08/2021

What's The Difference Between Tabemono and Ryouri?

"Why does this homework say the Japanese word for food is ryouri? I thought you said the word for food was tabemono?"

I love it when students ask questions like this. It shows you’re really thinking about the language.

So, what’s the difference between ryouri and tabemono? Consider the following:

Potatoes are tabemono, but they're not ryouri.

irasutoya Clip Art Tabemono Ryouri Step Up Japanese Fran Wrigley Japanese Lessons.png

"Why does this homework say the Japanese word for food is ryouri? I thought you said the word for food was tabemono?"

I love it when students ask questions like this. It shows you’re really thinking about the language.

So, what’s the difference between ryouri and tabemono? Consider the following:

Potatoes are tabemono, but they're not ryouri.

Fish and chips is tabemono AND ryouri.

Does that give you a clue?

食べ物 (tabemono)

Tabemono is food in quite a general sense. The unprepared ingredients in your fridge are tabemono. The food on your plate is also tabemono.

For example:

好きな食べ物は？

Suki-na tabemono wa?

What's your favourite food?

体に良い食べ物ベスト10！

Karada ni ii tabemono besuto 10!

Top ten foods that are good for you!

料理 (ryouri)

Ryouri, on the other hand, is cooking or cuisine. Specifically, it's food which has been cooked or otherwise prepared.

The food on your plate is ryouri, but the ingredients in your fridge are not ryouri yet.

Some more examples:

その店の料理は美味しかったです。

Sono mise no ryouri wa oishikatta desu.

The food at that restaurant was great.

Ryouri can be the cuisine of a whole country:

フランス料理が大好きです。

Furansu ryouri ga daisuki desu.

I love French food.

イギリス料理はまずいと言われます。

Igirisu ryouri wa mazui to iwaremasu.

It's said that British food is disgusting.

料理をする (ryouri o suru) means "to cook", too:

ロバートさんはあまり料理をしません。

Robaato san wa amari ryouri o shimasen.

Robert doesn't cook very often.

Question time!

Can you answer these questions?

１.　好きな食べ物は何ですか。

　（すきな　たべものは　なんですか。）

２.　よく料理をしますか。何を作りますか。

　（よく　りょうりを　しますか。なにを　つくりますか。）

Or, you could hop on over to Twitter and ask me a question. I love a good question 😊

Updated 10th August 2021

Fran Wrigley 07/04/2020 Fran Wrigley 07/04/2020

What's the Difference Between Mina and Minna (And Why Does It Matter Anyway?)

If you watch Japanese TV or anime (or are paying attention in class) you've probably come across the Japanese word mina-san (皆さん) meaning "everybody".

But what's the difference between mina and minna? What's mina-sama all about? And ... does it actually matter?

Fran Wrigley Japanese Lessons Learn Japanese Online Difference Between Mina and Minna 1.png

Mina-san, konnichiwa! (皆さん、こんにちは ) Hello everybody!

If you watch Japanese TV or anime (or are paying attention in class) you've probably come across the Japanese word mina-san (皆さん) meaning "everybody".

But what's the difference between mina and minna? What's mina-sama all about? And ... does it actually matter?

１．皆さん　Mina-san

Mina means "everybody", and it's commonly used with "-san" (the honorific suffix you put on the end of people's names to be polite).

Mina-san is often used when addressing a group of people, especially when they don't know either other too well or the situation calls for a slightly more formal greeting.

I find myself using mina-san in class a lot, which makes sense - I’m addressing a group of people.

As you might expect, Japanese YouTubers say “mina-san konnichiwa” a lot too ("hi guys!")

Fran Wrigley Japanese Lessons Learn Japanese Online Difference Between Mina and Minna 6.png

These example sentences from jisho.org should give you a good idea of the kinds of situation when mina-san is used:

Fran Wrigley Japanese Lessons Learn Japanese Online Difference Between Mina and Minna 2.jpeg

２．みんな　Minna

Also common is minna, which is just a spoken form of mina. Minna is more casual than mina.

Examples from jisho show us that people also use minna when they talk about everyone, as well as when addressing groups:

Fran Wrigley Japanese Lessons Learn Japanese Online Difference Between Mina and Minna 3.jpeg

3. Beware! It’s not みんなさん minna-san

You can't mix them up and use minna-san though. That's incorrect.

Probably no one will mind or notice in a casual situation, but if you're trying to be polite, stick with mina-san. Or you can even go more polite with...

4. 皆様　Mina-sama

In more formal situations, the -san suffix is switched up to the more polite/formal -sama.

Mina-sama functions a lot like "ladies and gentlemen", or “esteemed guests”, and is used in writing, and in announcements:

Fran Wrigley Japanese Lessons Learn Japanese Online Difference Between Mina and Minna 5.jpeg

Why does this matter?

Well really, which word you use is going to depend on the situation.

Mina-sama is super formal and it would sound weird if you use it with your friends. Likewise, minna is pretty casual and might not be appropriate in a business setting.

A lot of gaining fluency in a language is about choosing the right word for the right situation. The more examples you can read, and the more you can expose yourself to the Japanese language, the more these distinctions will start to make sense.

Mina-san, if you'd like to learn more Japanese with me, click here to check out my new online Japanese language courses!

First published 9th June 2017
Updated 7th April 2020

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