VocabularyJLPT N5 · core

ひま
hepburn hima

free time, not busy

Part of speech · na-adjective / noun

Pattern visualization

no decomposition available

Examples

  1. 今日は暇ですか。
    Are you free today?
  2. 暇な時間に本を読みます。
    I read books in my free time.

Collocations

暇 (hima, free time)忙しい (isogashii, busy — antonym)余暇 (yoka, leisure)休暇 (kyuuka, vacation)暇つぶし (himatsubushi, killing time)

Mnemonic

Hima (暇) works as both na-adjective and noun — "free, having spare time." Antonym isogashii (忙しい, i-adjective). Kanji 暇 = 日 (day) + 叚 (borrow / brief) — "a borrowed pocket of time to rest." Register note: ima hima? (you free?) is fine with friends, but at work to a superior, oisogashii desu ka? (are you busy?) is the polite phrasing — ohima desu ka? sounds casual. Himatsubushi (暇つぶし) = hima + tsubusu (crush) = "killing time." Yoka (余暇, leisure), kyuuka (休暇, vacation) are formal Sino-Japanese. Noun usage: hima ga nai (no spare time), hima o toru (take time off). Korean "han-ga / yeo-ga / hyu-ga" maps the same.

Quick check

  1. Polite way to ask a boss if they have time?

Listed inJLPT N5 · core
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