Translation guide
How to express 'speed up' in Japanese, covering intransitive and transitive uses, from natural everyday phrases to formal and technical terms.
The subject itself becomes faster, e.g., a car, work pace, or heart rate.
The most common and neutral way to say something becomes faster. Uses the adjective 速い (fast).
車が急に速くなった。
The car suddenly sped up.
作業のペースが速くなった。
The pace of work sped up.
Intransitive verb meaning 'to accelerate'. Slightly more formal or technical than 速くなる, but still common.
景気の回復が加速している。
The economic recovery is speeding up.
車が急に加速した。
The car suddenly accelerated.
Loanword from English, used both intransitively and transitively. Common in business and casual contexts.
作業がスピードアップした。
The work sped up.
Intransitive verb meaning 'to become earlier' or 'to be hastened'. Often used for schedules or events happening sooner than planned.
出発が早まった。
The departure was sped up (moved earlier).
A person or thing causes something else to become faster.
The most basic and versatile transitive expression. Literally 'make fast'.
彼は車を速くした。
He sped up the car.
音楽のテンポを速くしてください。
Please speed up the tempo of the music.
Causative form of 加速する, meaning 'to make something accelerate'. More formal than 速くする.
政府は改革を加速させた。
The government sped up the reforms.
Transitive verb meaning 'to hasten' or 'to advance' (a schedule, process). Often used for deadlines or events.
Causative of スピードアップする. Used in business or project contexts.
プロジェクトをスピードアップさせる必要がある。
We need to speed up the project.
Focus on increasing the pace of an action, often with a sense of urgency.
General verb for 'to hurry'. Often used when there is a time constraint.
Literally 'raise the pace'. Common in sports, work, or any activity with a measurable pace.
ランナーは最後の周でペースを上げた。
The runner sped up on the final lap.
Similar to ペースを上げる, but focuses on speed rather than pace. Used for vehicles, machines, or abstract processes.
車のスピードを上げた。
I sped up the car.
速い (はやい) means 'fast' in terms of speed. 早い (はやい) means 'early' in terms of time. When talking about speeding up a schedule, use 早める. When talking about increasing velocity, use 速くする or 加速する.
スピードアップする is usually used for processes, work, or machines, not for telling a person to hurry up. Use 急ぐ or 急いで instead.
急いで！
Hurry up!
会議の時間を早めた。
We sped up (moved up) the meeting time.
彼は死期を早めた。
He hastened his own death.