今夜

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. 今夜は星がきれいだ。▶ —
   The stars are beautiful tonight.
2. 今夜の天気予報を見る。▶ —
   I watch tonight's weather forecast.

Collocations

Mnemonic

Konya (今夜) means "tonight" — 今 (now) + 夜 (night) — and sits in a synonym ladder: konya (formal / poetic), konban (今晩, everyday register), koyoi (今宵, classical / poetic). The kanji 夜 fans out: yonaka (middle of the night), mayonaka (around midnight), yofuke (late night), tetsuya (all-nighter), yoake (dawn). 夜 (yoru / ya) is shared across East Asia (Korean bam, Chinese yè). Precise time markers: midnight = mayonaka or shin-ya; 0–3 AM = mimei or akegata; dawn = yoake or "yoru ga akeru." Greeting time-slots align with the cluster: ohayou gozaimasu (until 10), konnichi-wa (10–17), konban-wa (after 17) — the last literally meaning "as for tonight" (今晩は). Korean uses a flat "oneul bam"; Japanese fans across registers and time slices. JLPT N5 layers konya / konban with the greeting set.

Quick check

1. Etymology of konban-wa (こんばんは)?

   • Ellipsis of "Konban wa (as for tonight) ..." = "as for tonight, (how are you)"
   • Kantou dialect
   • Foreign loan
   • Edo-era coinage