Translation guide
How to express 'briefly' in Japanese, covering short duration, concise speech, and summarizing.
Describing an action that lasts only a short time.
Literally 'for a little while'. A natural, neutral way to say 'briefly' when referring to a short duration.
少しの間、外で待っていてください。
Please wait outside briefly.
Expressing something in few words, without detail.
Adverb meaning 'concisely' or 'briefly'. Used when speaking or writing succinctly.
簡潔に説明してください。
Please explain briefly.
Means 'briefly' or 'in short'. Often used when asking someone to be quick.
Introducing a short summary or conclusion.
ちょっと is casual and very common in speech. 少しの間 is slightly more formal and explicitly means 'for a short time'. Use ちょっと with friends, 少しの間 in polite requests.
ちょっと待って。
Wait a sec.
少しの間お待ちいただけますか。
Could you wait briefly?
簡潔に means 'concisely' in terms of expression, not duration. To say 'I stayed briefly', use 少しの間 or ちょっと, not 簡潔に.
Very common casual word meaning 'a little' or 'briefly'. Often used in spoken Japanese.
ちょっと待って。
Wait briefly.
Means 'for a while' or 'for some time'. Can imply a longer duration than ちょっと, but still relatively brief.
しばらくお待ちください。
Please wait briefly.
Means 'temporarily' or 'for a short period'. More formal and often used in written contexts.
システムが一時的に停止します。
The system will stop briefly.
手短に話してください。
Please speak briefly.
Means 'simply' or 'briefly'. Implies giving a simple, not detailed, explanation.
簡単に言うと、それは無理です。
Briefly put, that's impossible.
Literally 'if said in one word', meaning 'in short' or 'briefly'. Used to summarize.
一言で言えば、失敗でした。
Briefly, it was a failure.
Means 'in short' or 'to sum up'. Common in both spoken and written Japanese.
要するに、計画は中止です。
Briefly, the plan is cancelled.
Means 'in other words' or 'that is to say'. Used to rephrase or summarize briefly.
つまり、彼は来ないということです。
Briefly, it means he's not coming.