Need to talk about cutting back on drinking in Japanese? This phrase — お酒の量を減らす — is the one you need!
Japanese
Reading
Meaning
お酒の量を減らす
osake no ryou wo herasu
to cut down on / reduce the amount of alcohol
量
ryou
amount / quantity
減らす
herasu
to reduce / to decrease (transitive)
TOC
Breaking Down the Phrase
お酒 (osake) — alcohol / sake
の量 (no ryou) — the amount of
を減らす (wo herasu) — to reduce / to cut down
Together: “to reduce the amount of alcohol one drinks.”
Using This Phrase in Context
最近、お酒の量を減らしています。 — Recently I’ve been cutting down on drinking.
医者にお酒の量を減らすように言われた。 — The doctor told me to reduce my alcohol intake.
健康のためにお酒の量を減らした方がいいよ。 — For your health, it’s better to drink less.
Rei
What’s the difference between 減らす and 減る？
Yuka
減らす (herasu) is transitive — you reduce something. 減る (heru) is intransitive — it decreases on its own. お酒の量を減らす = I reduce my drinking. お酒の量が減る = the amount of alcohol decreases.
Related Expressions
Japanese
Meaning
お酒をやめる
to quit drinking
飲みすぎる
to drink too much
節酒する
to moderate drinking (formal)
断酒する
to abstain from alcohol (formal)
Quick Quiz
Translate: “I’m trying to cut down on alcohol.”
Answer: お酒の量を減らそうとしています。
—
Want to build your Japanese vocabulary for health and lifestyle topics? Try italki!
💬 Want to practice these phrases with a real person? Find a Japanese conversation partner or tutor on italki — speaking practice you can start today.
Related Articles
あわせて読みたい
Disposable：tsukai sute。Japanese Phrase #269The word 使い捨て is everywhere in daily Japanese life. Let’s learn what it means and how to use it! JapaneseReadingMeaning使い捨てtsukai sutedisposabl...
あわせて読みたい
Itchy：”kayui” Japanese Phrase #272Feeling itchy? There’s a perfect word for that in Japanese — and it’s more useful than you might think! JapaneseReadingMeaning痒いkayuiitchy痒みk...
Yuka
Rei
Yuka
