おなかすいた
おなかすいた
expression
I'm hungry
1.
I'm hungry
The standard casual way to say one is hungry. Literally 'my stomach has become empty,' using the past tense of お腹が空く to express the resulting state.
おなかすいた。なに食べよう。
I'm hungry. What should we eat?
おなかすいたー。お昼まだかな。
I'm so hungry. Is it lunchtime yet?
「おなかすいた」「さっき食べたばかりでしょ」
"I'm hungry." "You just ate!"
おなかすいた is the most common casual way to express hunger in Japanese. It is a contraction of お腹が空いた, with the particle が dropped as is typical in casual speech.
FULL FORM:
お腹が空いた — literally "stomach became empty." The past tense indicates a completed change of state: "I've become hungry" → "I am hungry."
FORMS:
- おなかすいた: casual (most common spoken form)
- お腹が空きました: polite
- おなかすいたー: drawn out, emphasizing how hungry one is
- おなかぺこぺこ: childish/playful alternative
- 腹減った: masculine, rougher equivalent
RELATED BODY-STATE EXPRESSIONS:
Japanese has a set of casual body-state expressions using past tense:
- おなかすいた: I'm hungry
- のどかわいた: I'm thirsty
- つかれた: I'm tired
- 眠い: I'm sleepy (adjective, not past tense)