Translation guide
The English verb 'survive' covers several related ideas: staying alive through danger, continuing to exist over time, and managing to get by in difficult situations. Japanese expresses these with different verbs and patterns depending on the nuance.
To remain alive after an accident, disaster, illness, or life-threatening situation.
The most direct equivalent for 'survive' in the sense of not dying when others might have. Often used for surviving disasters, battles, etc.
He survived the accident.
people who survived the earthquake
Intransitive verb meaning 'to be saved' or 'to survive'. Focuses on the outcome of being spared. Very common in spoken Japanese.
Miraculously, I survived.
He barely survived (escaped death).
Emphasizes prolonging life or enduring through hardship. Often used for surviving in extreme conditions.
They survived the winter.
For customs, traditions, languages, organizations, etc., to remain in existence over time.
Formal term for 'continue to exist', used for institutions, systems, or abstract things.
That tradition still survives today.
Common verb meaning 'to remain'. Can be used for things that survive the passage of time.
Can be used metaphorically for non-living things that persist, but sounds slightly personified.
To cope with difficult circumstances, especially having just enough money or resources.
A very common phrase meaning 'to manage somehow', 'to get by'. Used for financial or life struggles.
I survive on a small income.
Literally 'connect eating', meaning to barely make a living, survive from hand to mouth.
To live through, to endure and survive a difficult period. Stronger nuance of perseverance.
To live longer than another person, often a family member.
While 生き残る is the direct translation, it often sounds too dramatic or literal for everyday situations like 'surviving a boring meeting' or 'surviving on a budget'. Use なんとかやっていく or other phrases for non-life-threatening contexts.
助かる is intransitive and focuses on the result of being saved or spared. 生き残る is more active and emphasizes remaining alive among others who died. 助かる is more common in casual speech for 'I survived!'.
Only two people survived the plane crash.
I can't survive on this salary.
The company survived the recession.
乗り切る means 'to weather' or 'to ride out', a common way to say a business survived a crisis.
古い習慣がまだ残っている。
Old customs still survive.
That word survives in modern times.
He survives by doing day labor.
the generation that survived the war
She survived her husband by 10 years.