How to Say ‘Cooking.’ in Japanese
料理です。
ryouri desu
[ryoh-ree dess]
💬 Usage Tip: To answer, you can just put your hobby in front of です and leave out the rest. For example, 読書です (dokusho desu) means "Reading."
Phrase Breakdown
料理
ryouri
[ryoh-ree]
cooking; cuisine; dish (as a category)
料理（りょうり） means “cooking” or “food/dishes.” On dates, it’s common to talk about hobbies like cooking.
週末は料理をするのが好きです。
I like cooking on weekends.
です
desu
[dess]
is; polite copula
A polite sentence ending used in formal conversation.
少し伺いたいです。
I would like to ask a little.
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