How to say “makes sense” / “That explains it” in Japanese

A lot of students, even intermediate learners, sometimes ask me

「先生、”makes sense” は日本語でなんと言いますか。」
Sensei, “makes sense” wa nihon-go de nan to ii-masu ka

= How do you say “makes sense” in Japanese?

If you look it up in a dictionary, you get
理にかなう (ri ni kanau)
And 意味を成す (imi wo nasu).
If someone says it to me, I would be like “Whaaaat?“.
Often the dictionary gives you way too formal words that you’d never use.
That’s one of the biggest reasons why I’m blogging to teach you the “right” words and phrases.
If you heavily rely on dictionaries,your Japanese will end up sounding like
you are reading essays filled with big words. You don’t want to sound like that.

Many of you probably already know how to say “I see”.

そうですか
sou desu ka
= I see

More informally,
そっか
sokka

But I personally don’t like this そっか because it sounds cold or like you don’t care.
Slightly nicer way –
そうなんだ
sou nan da
It all depends on the intonation.

But I’ll tell you the magical four-letter word
that makes you sound native!　Use :

なるほど
naruhodo

It can be translated as  “I see” or “(it) makes sense”.

It’s just nicer than そうですか.
It makes you sound like you listened to the speaker carefully.
When someone explains something for you, this one is the best choice.
Some Japanese people cannot say anything else but なるほど.

The awesome thing about なるほど is that
you can use it in both informal and formal speech.
You might hear 「なるほどです」 in anime, but it sounds a bit childish.

And usually before なるほど,
we put 「あ～。」 Aaaa.

「あ～、なるほど。」
“Ohhh, I see.”

例 rei E.g

A: この機械はこうやって使うんです。
B: なるほど！

A: Kono kikai wa kou-yatte tsukau n desu.
B: Naruhodo!

= A: You use this machine like this.
B: I see!

A: 日本語で「熱い水」と言いません。「お湯」と言います。
B: なるほど！

A: Nihon-go de “atsu-i mizu” to ii-masen. “oyu” to ii-masu.
B: Naruhodo!=A: In Japanese we don’t say “hot water”. We say “hot water”.
B: I see!

* 熱い atsu-i (hot) + 水 mizu (water) doesn’t work.
We have a separate word for “cold water (水 mizu) and hot water (お湯 oyu)“.

A: どうしてそんなに日本語が上手なの？
B: 五年間日本に住んでたから。
A: あーなるほど。

A: doushite sonna-ni nihon-go ga jouzu-na no?
B: go-nen-kan nihon ni sunde(i)ta kara.
A: Aa naruhodo.

A: How come is your Japanese so good?
B: Cos I used to live in Japan for 5 years.
A: Oh right. / That makes sense.

There are other ways to say “makes sense”.

だからか。
Dakara ka
(That’s why.)

Or

そういうことか。
Sou-iu koto ka
(That is how it is.)

Or

そういう訳か。
Sou-iu wake ka
(That’s the reason).

例 rei E.g

A: お母さんはレストランで働いてたんだ。
B: なるほど。 / だからか。

A: Okaasan wa resutoran de hataraite(i)ta n da.
B: Naruhodo / Dakara ka

A: My mum used to work in a restaurant.
B: Ah that makes sense. / That’s why.

Girl : なんで昨日さとしは弁護士になるって嘘をついたの？
この前、なりたくないって言ってたのに。やっぱりなりたいのかな？
Boy : あー。サトシは女の子といたの覚えてる？あの子が好きなんだよ。
男は普通は好きな女の子の前でかっこつけたいからね。
Girl : なるほど。 or  だからか。 or そういうことか。 or そういう訳か。

Girl : nande kinou satoshi wa bengoshi ni naru tte uso wo tsuita no?
Kono mae, naritaku-nai tte itte(i)ta noni. Yappari naritai no kana?
Boy : Aa. Satoshi wa onna no ko to itano oboete(i)ru? Ano ko ga suki-na n da yo
Girl : Naruhodo.  / Dakara ka / Souiu koto ka / Souiu wake ka.

Girl : Why did Satoshi lie to us yesterday that he will be a lawyer?
He told us he doesn’t want to be one the other day. Did he change his mind?
Boy : Ah, do you remember he was with a girl? He likes her.
Guys normally want to show off in front of girls we like.
Girl : That makes sense. / That explains it.

A: どうして日本人はマスクをつけるの？
B: 風邪を引かないようにだよ。
それに、もし風邪を引いていたら、他の人に移したくないからね。
それが礼儀だよ。メイクをするのがめんどくさいから
マスクをつける女の子もたまにいるけど。
A: あー、なるほどね。 or  だからか。 or  そういうことか。 or そういう訳か。

A: Doushite nihon-jin wa masuku wo tsukeru no?
B: Kaze wo hikanai you-ni da yo. Sore ni, moshi kaze wo hiite-itara,
hoka no hito ni utsuhi-ta-kunai kara ne.
Sore ga reigi da yo. Meiku wo suru no ga mendokusai kara
masuku wo tsukeru onna no ko mo tama-ni iru kedo
A: Aa naruhodo ne.

A: Why do Japanese people wear masks?
B: In order to prevent from catching a cold.
And also, if we have one, we don’t want to give it to others. It’s about courtesy.
Some girls wear it because they cannot be bothered wearing make-up.
A: Ah, I see. / That makes sense. / That explains it.

Now how to say “It doesn’t make sense“?
You can NOT simply negate なるほど.
It doesn’t make sense.

意味が分からない。
(imi ga wakara-nai)

More colloquially,

意味分かんない。
(imi wakaNnai)

*In informal speech, nobody really says わからない but わかんない.*
This one literally means “I don’t understand the meaning (what you mean).”

You can also say

訳が分からない。
(wake ga wakara-nai)

More colloquially,

訳わかんない。
(wake wakaNnai)

訳 – if you read it as “WAKE”, it literally means “reason”.If you read it as “YAKU”, it means “translation”.
*You can also say 翻訳 (honyaku) = translation.*

E.g

この歌詞、意味分かんない。
Kono kashi, imi wakannai
（actually -> この歌詞は意味が分かんない
kono kashi wa imi ga wakanNai)

= These lyrics make no sense.

みさは寒いのが嫌いなのに、ロシアに行った。訳が分かんない。
Misa wa samu-i no ga kirai-na noni, roshia ni itta. Wake ga wakanNai
= Misa doesn’t like it when it’s cold, but went to Russia. Makes no sense.

女の言うことは意味が分かんない。
Onna no iu koto wa imi ga wakaNnai
= What women say just doesn’t make sense.(I don’t understand~)

人を騙して、平気でいられる人って意味分かんない。
Hito wo damashite, heiki de irareru hito tte imi wakannai.
= I don’t understand people who deceive others and can feel nothing.

But I prefer using this:

どういうこと？
What do you mean? What are you trying to say?

It’s nicer and softer than those above.
You can use it when you are not following a story or conversation.

I was watching a show called “Arrested Development”
and one of the characters, Joe, said”Mexicans from Colombia ~”.
Yeah, he didn’t know that they are called “Colombians”.
Anyway, what I thought was :「どういうこと？！」　xD lol
It makes no sense! / What does he mean by that?!

E.g

ごめん、ちょっとよく分からない。どういうこと？
Gomen, chotto yoku wakaranai. Douiu koto?
= Sorry, I’m not really following you. (I don’t really undersntand)
What did you mean? (What are you trying to say?)

「ここで何してるの？仕事にいるって言ったのに！どういうこと？！」
Koko de nani shite(i)ru no? Shigoto ni iru tte itta noni! Douiu koto?!
= What are you doing here? You said you are at work! What’s going on?!

A: もう会社で働いてないから、建物に入っちゃだめだって言われて…
B: ちょっと待って、もう会社で働いてないってどういうこと？
A: あれ、言ってなかった？この前やめたんだ。

A: mou kaisha de hataraite(i)nai kara, tatemono ni haiccha dame da tte iwarete…
B: Chotto matte, mou kaisha de hataraite(i)nai tte dou-iu koto?
A: Are, itte nakatta? Kono mae yameta n da.

A: I’m not working at the company so I was told that I cannot enter the building…and…
B: Wait, what do you mean by “not working anymore”?
A: Heh? I didn’t tell you? I quit it a while ago.

And remember, Japanese people care a lot about politeness,
so we wouldn’t say “it doesn’t make sense” when speaking formally.
We would say :

すみません。もう一度説明してもらえますか。
Sumimasen. Mou ichi-do setsumei shite moraEmasu ka
= I’m sorry, but could you explain it to me again?

If it’s business situation :
申し訳ありませんが、もう一度説明していただけますか。
Moushiwake arimasen ga, mou ichi-do setsumei shite itadakemasu ka
= I’m terribly sorry, but could you please explain me again?

If you want to ask the listener if s/he is following what you are saying, ask like this :

Does it make sense? You know what I mean?
Informally

言ってること分かる？
Itte(i)ru koto wakaru
(lit. Do you understand what I’m saying?)

You can either say,

「うん、分かるよ。」
Un, wakaru yo
=Yeah I understand.

「ごめん、分かんない。」
Gomen, wakanNai
= Sorry, I don’t understand.

Anyway if you want to sound like a good listener,use 「なるほど」 and keep nodding ;)

Hope this helps x またね(^^ゞ