Japanese Verbs for Daily Chores: Sōji Suru, Sentaku Suru, Katazukeru and More

Cleaning: sōji suru, fuku, haku, katazukeru

Sōji is the noun for cleaning, and sōji suru covers vacuuming, wiping and scrubbing. Under it sit more specific verbs. Fuku is to wipe, used for tables, floors and windows. Haku is to sweep, with a hōki, a broom. Sōjiki o kakeru is to run the vacuum cleaner, and kakeru is the verb for any cleaning machine you pass over a surface. Migaku is to polish or scrub, the verb for the bath, the sink and, at the other end of the day, your teeth.

Katazukeru is different. It means to put things back where they belong: dishes off the table, clothes off the chair, the children's toys into the box. A room can be tidy but dirty, or clean but cluttered, and Japanese keeps the two ideas apart. Seiri suru, to organise, and seiton suru, to arrange, are the office and school versions of tidying.

Laundry: sentaku suru, hosu, tatamu, shimau

Laundry in Japanese is a sequence of verbs, because most homes hang clothes to dry rather than use a dryer. Sentaku suru is to wash clothes, in a sentakuki, a washing machine. Sentakumono is the laundry itself, and hosu is to hang it out to dry, on the balcony or, on rainy days, inside, which is called heya-boshi. When it is dry, torikomu means to bring it in, tatamu is to fold, and shimau is to put it away in a drawer or wardrobe.

Two more words come up constantly. Airon o kakeru is to iron, with the same kakeru as the vacuum cleaner. Kansōki is a dryer, which many flats do not have, and the weather forecast tells you whether it is a sentaku biyori, a good day for laundry. Sharing a home, the question is usually who does each step, since the person who washes is not always the person who folds.

Kitchen: ryōri suru, sara o arau, gomi o dasu

Ryōri suru is to cook, and gohan o tsukuru, to make a meal, is what people say at home. Sara o arau is to wash the dishes, and the dishes as a job are shokki, so shokki-arai is washing up as a chore. Katazukeru returns here: shokuji no katazuke is clearing up after a meal, which includes wiping the table and putting leftovers away.

Gomi o dasu, to put the rubbish out, is a serious chore in Japan because rubbish is sorted and collected by type on set days that vary by city. Moeru gomi is burnable, moenai gomi non-burnable, shigen gomi recyclables, and gomi o wakeru means to sort it. Check your building or ward calendar for the days; a housemate who has lived there longer will know them by heart.

Errands and the rest of the week

Chores that leave the house use iku. Kaimono ni iku is to go shopping, and kaimono o suru is to do the shopping. Kuriiningu ni dasu is to take clothes to the dry cleaner. Ginkō ni iku and yūbinkyoku ni iku are the bank and post office runs, and the general word for an errand is yōji, so yōji o sumaseru is to get errands done. Pets and plants have their own verbs: inu no sanpo ni iku, to walk the dog, and mizu o yaru, to water the plants.

Back inside, futon o shiku is to lay out the futon and futon o ageru to put it away, still a daily chore in tatami rooms. Denkyū o kaeru is to change a light bulb. Kaji is the umbrella word for all of it, and kaji o suru, to do housework, is what you say when you are too tired to list the jobs.

Sharing chores and setting a rota

The phrase for dividing housework is kaji buntan, and the verb is wakeru, to split. A rota is tōban-hyō, a chart of turns, and tōban on its own means the person whose turn it is: kyō no gomi tōban wa dare, whose rubbish turn is it today. Kōtai de, in turns, describes a rota in one word. Share houses often post a chart on the fridge, and a new housemate is expected to ask where their name goes.

When you negotiate a split, offer before you request. Watashi wa ryōri o suru kara, sara arai o onegai shite mo ii, I will cook, so may I ask you to wash up, sets an exchange rather than a demand. To check fairness use kōhei, fair: kore de kōhei ka na. To fix a problem gently, use the nominaliser and hoshii: mō sukoshi tetsudatte hoshii, I would like a bit more help.

Chore verbs at a glance

The first table collects the cleaning and laundry verbs. The reading column gives the romaji you will hear; the suru verbs are shown with suru, and o can be added in careful speech.

Kitchen, errands and asking for help

The second table covers the kitchen, rubbish and errands. After it, the list gives the request patterns from softest to most direct, because how you ask matters more than which chore you name.

• Te-form plus moraeru kana, for the softest ask: gomi o dashite moraeru kana
• Te-form plus kureru, the everyday ask between equals: sara aratte kureru
• Te-form plus oite, asking for it to be done in advance: tēburu o fuite oite
• Te-form plus ne, a gentle reminder: taoru wa tatande ne
• Volitional plus ka, an invitation to do it together: issho ni katazukeyō ka
• Plain te-form alone, family and close friends only: torikonde

Adding a reason before the request, kyō wa osoku naru kara, because I will be late today, makes any of these sound considerate rather than bossy.

Common mistakes and awkward moments

The first mistake is using katazukeru for cleaning or sōji suru for tidying. If a housemate asks you to katazukeru the living room and you vacuum around the clutter, the job is not done. Ask which one they mean with katazuke, sore tomo sōji, tidying or cleaning.

The second is the imperative. Gomi o dase is what a drill sergeant says. Even between partners, dashite kureru or dashite ne is the norm, and a bare command from a learner sounds harsher than intended because there is no tone to soften it.

The third is the rubbish day. Putting bags out on the wrong morning annoys neighbours and, in many buildings, brings a note from the management company. If you get it wrong, a short apology to the neighbour who noticed goes a long way. And when you have forgotten your own turn, own it quickly: gomen, wasureteta, ima yaru, sorry, I forgot, I'll do it now.