VocabularyJLPT N5 · core

今年

ことし

hepburn kotoshi

this year

Part of speech · noun

Pattern visualization

今now

Show part origins

年year

Show part origins

Show stroke order animation

Numbers4 strokes · 2.7s

Numbers6 strokes · 4.1s

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Examples

今年もよろしくお願いします。
Looking forward to this year too.
今年の夏はとても暑い。
This summer is very hot.

Collocations

今年 (kotoshi, this year)去年 (kyonen, last year)来年 (rainen, next year)今年中 (kotoshi-juu, by year-end)お正月 (oshougatsu, New Year)

Mnemonic

Kotoshi (今年) means "this year" — 今 (now) + 年 (year). The year-deictic ladder: kyonen (去年, last year), kotoshi (this year), rainen (来年, next year), sarainen (再来年, year after next). Reading split: standalone 今年 is kotoshi (kun-yomi), while 今年中 keeps kotoshi. The kanji 年 anchors nenkin (pension), nenrei (age), nenchuu (year-round), toshiyori (elderly). Japan's 年 ritual cluster: oshougatsu (New Year Jan 1–3), hatsumoude (first shrine visit), nengajou (New Year cards), otoshidama (New Year cash gift to children), toshikoshi soba (year-crossing buckwheat noodles on Dec 31), joya no kane (108 temple-bell strikes on Dec 31). The New Year greeting "akemashite omedetou gozaimasu" opens on January 1, paralleled in Korean by "saehae bok mani badeu-seyo." "Kotoshi mo yoroshiku onegai-shimasu" (please bear with me this year too) is the canonical first-meeting line of the new year. JLPT N5 anchors the New Year vocabulary cluster — extremely high conversational frequency.

Quick check

Custom of otoshidama (お年玉)?