Translation guide
The English word 'dollar' refers to a unit of currency used in several countries. In Japanese, it is most commonly expressed as ドル, a loanword from English. This guide covers how to talk about dollars in Japanese, including currency names, counting, and related expressions.
ドル
dollar
Referring to the dollar as a currency unit (e.g., US dollar, Australian dollar).
The standard Japanese word for 'dollar', used for any dollar currency. It is a loanword from English and is written in katakana.
This is 10 dollars.
アメリカドルは強い通貨です。
The US dollar is a strong currency.
Abbreviation for 'US dollar', commonly used in financial contexts. 米 (べい) is an abbreviation for アメリカ (America).
米ドル/円の為替レートは変動しています。
The USD/JPY exchange rate is fluctuating.
Abbreviation for 'Australian dollar', used in financial contexts. 豪 (ごう) is an abbreviation for オーストラリア (Australia).
豪ドルは資源通貨として知られています。
The Australian dollar is known as a commodity currency.
Expressing amounts of money in dollars.
Simply attach the number before ドル. Japanese uses the same counting system as for other items, but note that larger numbers may use the Japanese system (e.g., 万, 億).
To express dollars and cents, use ドル for dollars and セント for cents. The pattern is [dollars]ドル[cents]セント.
5ドル50セント
5 dollars and 50 cents
Referring to the dollar sign symbol.
The term for the dollar sign '$'. 記号 means 'symbol'.
ドル記号は「$」です。
The dollar sign is '$'.
When speaking Japanese, ドル is used just like any other noun. For prices, you can say 「～ドルです」 (It is ~ dollars). Remember that Japanese does not pluralize nouns, so ドル stays the same whether it's one dollar or many.
これは5ドルです。
This is 5 dollars.
Be careful not to mix up ドル (dollar) and 円 (えん, yen). When talking about money in Japan, the default currency is yen, so if you mean dollars, you must specify ドル.
それは100円ですか、100ドルですか。
Is that 100 yen or 100 dollars?
ドルを円に両替する必要があります。
I need to exchange dollars for yen.
価格は米ドルです。
The price is in US dollars.