Expressing various daily routines in Japanese can be mostly straightforward. However, though the sentence structure itself may be simple, cultural differences from other countries can make direct translation difficult or confusing for some of these terms.

One basic example is the generic term for “cleaning”. This is usually spoken in colloquial Japanese as “kirei ni suru” (綺麗にする).
When translated directly to English, this would always be closer to the phrase “make (it) beautiful, pure or spotless”. True, we definitely sometimes use the term to refer to “cleaning”, but not as commonly as the Japanese people use the term “kirei ni suru” in everyday life.
As we can see below, there are two more additional terms for “cleaning”, but these are far more direct, with the terminology directly referring to the exact same thing in English.
Also, keep in mind that these are only the most commonly used terms, as you can get more specific by using more verbs and further adding different action terminologies.
Brush teeth | Ha wo migaku | 歯を磨く | はをみがく |
Change clothes | Kigaeru | 着替える | きがえる |
Cleaning (tidying up) | Souji (suru) | 掃除 (する) | そうじ |
Cleaning (treatment) | Seisou (suru) | 清掃 (する) | せいそう |
Commute to work | Tsuukin (suru) | 通勤 (する) | つうきん |
Cook a meal | Ryouri (suru) | 料理 (する) | りょうり |
Eat a meal | Shokuji wo suru | 食事をする | しょくじをする |
Use/Fiddle with a PC | Pasokon wo ijiru | パソコンを弄る | パソコンをいじる |
Go home | (Uchi ni) kaeru | (内に) 帰る | うちにかえる |
Go out (to something) | Dekakeru | 出かける | でかける |
Go to school | Gakkou ni iku | 学校に行く | がっこうにいく |
Have fun/Visit a place | Asobi ni iku | 遊びに行く | あそびにいく |
Household chores | Kaji wo suru | 家事をする | かじをする |
Laundry | Sentaku (suru) | 洗濯 (する) | せんたく |
Shopping | Kaimono (suru) | 買い物 (する) | かいもの |
Sleep | Neru | 寝る | ねる |
Study | Benkyou (suru) | 勉強 (する) | べんきょう |
Take a (tub) bath | Ofuro ni hairu | お風呂に入る | おふろにはいる |
Take a nap | Kamin wo toru | 仮眠を取る | かみんをとる |
Take a shower | Shawaa wo abiru | シャワーを浴びる | シャワーをあびる |
Wake up | Okiru | 起きる | おきる |
Walking | (O) Sanpo (suru) | (お) 散歩 (する) | さんぽ |
Wash face | Kao wo arau | 顔を洗う | かおをあらう |
Watch TV | Terebi wo miru | テレビを見る | テレビをみる |
Keep in mind, that the words that have the optional “suru” (NOT “wo suru”) with them are actually nouns. This means that they are only treated as verbs when “suru” is added.
Reversely, you can structure the sentence using these terms directly when referring to the action of its meaning. For example, “nihongo no benkyou” (日本語の勉強, “The study of Japanese/Japanese studies”)