How to say “I Miss You” in Japanese

Today we are going to talk about how to say “I miss you” in Japanese. This a term that is not often used casually as it is in the west. Let’s take a look at all the different ways of saying it!

恋しい

恋こいしい is the most common term to appear when looking up how to say “I miss you” but is only used when referring to missing a place, food or thing but not people. Here are some examples of how the term could be used;

• 日本にほんが恋こいしい。 = I miss Japan.
• すしが恋こいしい。 = I miss sushi.
• 日本にほんのラーメンが恋こいしい。 = I miss Japanese ramen.
• 日本にほんのゲームセンターが恋こいしい。 = I miss Japanese arcades.

会いたい

会あいたい is a term that literally “means I want to meet”. 会あい is from the ます form of the verb 会あう (to meet) while the たい replaces the ます to represent “I want to”. Again, this is not said casually and is something that would be used with people close to you but not your family. If talking to your parents then you could say;

•  うちが恋こいしい。 = I miss home.

Be careful when using this phrase with your close friends though as it could give off the wrong signal if they fancy you, even if you are being platonic.

Here are some examples of how the phrase can be used;

• みさに会あいたい。 = I miss Misa. (lit. I want to meet Misa.)
• 今いますぐ会あいたい。 = I want to meet you right now.
• 会あいたくなっちゃった。 = Missing you. (lit. I became wanting to see you. I should be more patient…)

Another way of using the 会う verb to express missing someone is by saying;

• 次つぎ会あえるの（が）楽たのしみ。 = I’m looking forward to (lit. getting to) seeing you next time.

This is a less direct phrase and can show that you like someone but you know you aren’t at the stage of saying “I miss you” yet while still being friendly and sweet. There are many grammatical phrases within this phrase so let’s briefly take a look at them;

• 会あう becomes it’s “potential form” of 会あえる
• The の particle is used to nominalise the verb. This is because when verbs are placed in front of particles they need to be nominalised. You can take a look at this deeper in my other lesson XXXXX.

This phrase can also be used when finally meeting the person you missed by saying;

• 会あいたかったよ。 = I missed you! (lit. I wanted to meet you.)

さびしい

This phrase is another way of saying I miss you but literally translates to “I feel lonely”. A good example of using this would be;

• NAMEに会あえなくて、さびしい。 = I miss you. (lit. I’m lonely because I can’t see you.)

Sometimes you will hear people pronounce this as “さみしい” which is grammatically incorrect but they do it anyway. Don’t be surprised if you hear this!

Just like 会あいたい, this phrase can be used to express how much you missed someone once you see them again by saying;

• さびしかった。 = I missed you! (lit. I was lonely.)

Whereas if you were going to say goodbye;

• さびしくなるね。 = I’m going to miss you. (lit. I will be lonely.)

And there you have it, ways of saying “I miss you” in Japanese!

Thank you so much for reading this article and supporting me. Come back soon!

さびしくなるね :'(