What does the kanji 前 mean?

The kanji 前 (mae) means "in front, before". It is a JLPT N5 character.

"mae" is written with the kanji 前, meaning "in front, before". Its readings are onyomi (Chinese-derived) ぜん (zen), kunyomi (native Japanese) まえ (mae). It is a JLPT N5 character.

How do you write the kanji 前?

Write 前 ("in front") by following the correct stroke order. Use the interactive, step-by-step stroke order animation on this page to practise each stroke in sequence and build muscle memory.

What are the readings of 前?

前 has these readings: onyomi (Chinese-derived) ぜん (zen), kunyomi (native Japanese) まえ (mae).

前“in front” Kanjimae / zen

JLPT N5

How to write 前

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Meaning and readings

Meaning

in front, before

Onyomi (音読み)

ぜん zen

Chinese reading

Kunyomi (訓読み)

まえ mae

Japanese reading

Practice 前 on paper — a printable tracing grid with stroke order

Or get all 82 N5 sheets as one free PDF (downloads to your device)

Example sentences using 前

Human-reviewed sentence pairs from the Tatoeba corpus, with readings shown above the kanji.

どこかで聞きいた名前なまえだな。
I've heard that name before.
名前 (なまえ)
JP#10987736bysmall_snowEN#2359866byCKCC BY 2.0 FR Tatoeba Project
お前まえはすぐ人ひとのせいにするからな。
You always try to blame somebody else.
お前 (おまえ)
JP#226941bysmall_snowEN#64289byCKCC BY 2.0 FR Tatoeba Project
人前ひとまえでああいうみっともないことはするな。
Don't do such a shameful thing in public.
人前 (ひとまえ)
JP#143956byKK_kaku_EN#270610— no individual contributor (Tanaka Corpus import)CC BY 2.0 FR Tatoeba Project