Native Japanese speakers are blessed. They don’t need to chase after words, words come to them.

The other day, I went seeking Japanese words by watching the reality show 未来日記　MIRAI NIKKI (The Future Diary) on Netflix.

I was struck how much the 2 native stars (19 and 24 years old) relied a lot on one word to describe everything: やばい YABAI.

Everything seemed to be やばい YABAI. But if everything is やばい YABAI, can it really mean anything?

From my understanding, やばい YABAI often acts alone, as an interjection to express strong feelings, or sudden emotion.

In English, we use such as ‘Oh no’, ‘Awesome’, or even ‘Oh’ or ‘Ah’ in a similar way.

The meaning of やばい YABAI depends on the context. It can refer to something good or bad, or even something crazy.

For example, MAAI, the 19 year old from sunny Okinawan in show said やばい YABAI (that’s crazy) when she heard the man she was paired with is from snowbound Hokkaido.

She later used やばい YABAI (it’s amazing) when looking at photos of the stunning scenery in Okinawa.

The dictionary app, IMIWA has some examples of when YABAI precedes something more descriptive:

やばい、パスポートなくしたかも YABAI, PASUPOUTO NAKUSHITA KAMO (Oh no, I might have lost my passport).

やばい、宿題やっていない YABAI, SHUKUDAI YATTENAI (Oh no, I haven’t done my homework).

やばい is mainly used by young people when talking to other young people. It’s a relatively new expression.

As a 43 year old man, I feel too self-conscious to use regularly やばい YABAI but I do say it occasionally.

As proof of the informality of やばい, you very rarely come across it used with the polite です DESU.

やばい is an い adjective that conjugates eg やばかった YABUKATTA (it was amazing), or やばくない？ YABAKUNAI? (isn’t it amazing?)

It can also be said in other ways such as eg やべー YABEE.

すごい SUGOI (amazing) is used in a similar emotive way - and is regularly used by both contestants in the show, but it is not as informal as やばい.

As a side note, you might come across やばい used before っす, a shortened version of DESU.

っす is a bridge between formal and informal speech, and is mainly used by young men to men who are slightly older than them.

PS. If you want to practice saying YABAI, please join me at the last Spring Picnic of the Year at Stanmer Park on Saturday.

(Cherry Blossom) Picnic at Stanmer Park ブライトンでお花見, Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 2:00 PM | Meetup