uso 嘘

In Japanese, uso 嘘 means a "lie," an "untruth," although it's often translated in other ways.

It's also spelled uso うそ and uso ウソ.

Character: Usopp ウソップ
Manga: One Piece (Chapter 23, 〝キャプテン・ウソップ登場〟)

• Meaning
  
  • Antonym
• Translation
• Usage
• "To Lie" in Japanese
• "Liar" in Japanese

Meaning

Literally, uso 嘘 refers to a "lie." Grammatically, it's a noun.

• sore wa uso da
  それは嘘だ
  That is a lie.

In Japanese, the subject of a sentence, like the word "that," sore それ, above, is often the topic marked by the wa は particle. This topic can be omitted in certain situations, which is how you get:

• uso da!
  嘘だ！
  [It] is a lie!

Note that there's no word for the dummy pronoun "it" in Japanese. English needs the "it" because just "is a lie" would be syntactically wrong as a sentence, but Japanese has no such requirement, so it's common to have sentences with just the predicate alone like above.

Antonym

The antonym of uso 嘘 is hontou 本当, a "truth."

• hontou da!
  本当だ！
  [It] is a truth!
  [It] is true!

Other words like shinjitsu 真実, "reality," honki 本気, "actual feelings," maji まじ, "for real (slang)" are often used, too.

Translation

Usually, uso da 嘘だ isn't translated to "it is a lie," because that sounds weird in English. A decent translator will translate it differently, to something more natural, like:

• That's a lie!
• No way!
• You're lying to me!
• I can't believe it!

The last one would become this in Japanese:

• shinjirarenai
  信じられない
  [I] can't believe [it].
  • shinjiru
    信じる
    To believe. (ichidan verb.)
  • ~rare
    ～られ
    Able to. (potential jodoushi 助動詞.)
  • ~nai
    ～ない
    Not. (negative jodoushi.)

Manga: Asobi Asobase あそびあそばせ (Chapter 16, 尻遊び)

• Context: a very scary story turns out to be true, leaving characters stupefied with hair strands sticking out.
• e? uso...
  え？嘘･･･
  Eh? [No way]...
• jitsuwa nano!?
  実話なの！？
  [It] is a true story?
• chou kowai'!!
  超怖いっ！！
  [That] is super scary!!

Since uso da 嘘だ just says something is a "lie," sometimes it's used by party being lied to, but other times it's used by the party doing the lying, in which case it's translated to:

• Sorry, that was a lie.
• Got you.
• Gotcha.
• It was joke.

The last one being, in Japanese:

• joudan
  冗談
  [It is] a joke.

Character: Usopp ウソップ
Manga: One Piece (Chapter 23, 〝キャプテン・ウソップ登場〟)

• uso da--'!!!!
  ウソだーーっ！！！！
  [I lied]!!!!
• doon
  どーん
  (sound effect used when something suddenly comes to front on screen, in this case Usopp's face.)
• wa'ha'ha'ha'ha'ha'ha'ha'ha'ha!!!
  わっはっはっはっはっはっはっはっはっは！！！
  *laugh*

Usage

The word uso 嘘 is a noun, so it's accompanied by the copula da だ. This copula can be inflected. For example:

• uso desu
  嘘です
  [It] is a lie. (polite form.)
  • uso de aru
    嘘である
    [It] is a lie. (literary form.)
• uso datta
  嘘だった
  [It] was a lie.
  [He lied to me].
  [I lied to you].
  • uso deshita
    嘘でした
    (same meaning, polite form.)
  • zenbu uso datta
    全部嘘だった
    [It] was all a lie.
    [Everything was a lie].
• uso daro?
  嘘だろ？
  [It] is a lie, right?
  [You're joking, right?]
  [Surely that can't be true?]
  • uso desho?
    嘘でしょ？
    (same meaning, polite form.)
• uso janai!
  うそじゃない！
  [It] isn't a lie!
  [It is true! I'm not lying!]
  • uso de wa nai
    嘘ではない
    (same meaning, not a contraction.)
  • uso ja arimasen
    嘘じゃありません
    (same meaning, polite form.)
  • uso de wa arimasen
    嘘ではありません
    (same meaning, polite form, not a contraction.)

In questions:

• uso ka?
  嘘か？
  [It] is a lie?
  [It isn't true?]
  [You lied to me?]
  • uso desu ka?
    嘘ですか？
    (same meaning, polite form.)

Like other nouns, uso 嘘 can be used as no-adjective.

• {uso no} jouhou
  嘘の情報
  Information [that] {is a lie}.
  False information.
• {uso no} uwasa
  嘘の噂
  Rumors [that] {are lies}.
  False rumors.
• {uso no} sekai
  嘘の世界
  A world [that] {is a lie}.
  A false world.
• uso no kazoku
  嘘の家族
  A family [that] {is a lie}.
  A fake family.
• {uso no} you ni
  嘘のように
  Like [it] was a lie.
  • uso ka no you ni
    嘘かのように
    (same meaning, but with the ka か particle in the middle.)
• {{uso no} you na}, {hontou no} hanashi
  嘘のような本当の話
  A story [that] {is true}, [that] {looks like a lie}.
  A true story that seems false.
  A story that sounds like a lie, but is true.

Other basic phrases:

• uso mitai
  嘘みたい
  It appears [it] is a lie.
  That sounds like a lie. That looks like a lie.
• uso rashii
  嘘らしい
  I heard that [it] is a lie.

"To Lie" in Japanese

To say "to lie" in Japanese, you would say:

• uso wo tsuku
  嘘をつく
  To blow lies.
  To lie.

Manga: World Trigger, ワールドトリガー (Chapter 6, 嵐山隊)

• Context: Kuga Yuuma 空閑遊真 knows your habits.
• omae...... tsuman'nai uso φ tsuku ne
  おまえ･･････つまんないウソ　つくね
  You...... tell boring lies, [don't you]?
  (generic sentence.)
  • tsuman'nai is a contraction of tsumaranai つまらない.

The verb tsuku 吐く means to put something out of your mouth, in this case, a lie, but it can also be used to say other things, like "to sigh."

This verb is sometimes used in the imperative form meireikei 命令形 to criticize something for lying:

• uso wo tsuke!
  嘘をつけ！
  Lie! (literally, it would be an order)
  [Stop lying!] (what it normally means.)

Other conjugations:

• uso wo tsuita
  嘘をついた
  Lied.
• uso wo tsuite-iru
  嘘をついている
  To be lying.
  To have lied.
• uso wo tsuite-inai
  嘘をついていない
  To not be lying.
  To not have lied.
• {uso wo tsukanai} hito wa inai
  嘘をつかない人はいない
  A person [who] {doesn't lie} doesn't exist.

Some similar words include:

• gomakasu
  誤魔化す
  To fool. To trick. To swindle.
• gomakashita
  誤魔化した
  To have fooled. To have tricked. To have swindled.
• damasu
  騙す
  To deceive. To trick.
• damashita
  騙した
  To have deceived. To have tricked.

"Liar" in Japanese

A liar is someone who lies. Since "to lie" is uso wo tsuku, then a "liar" is:

• uso-tsuki
  嘘つき
  A liar.
  • tsuki is the noun form of the verb tsuku, and "liar" is a noun.

Do note that sometimes "liar" is translated in place of other phrases. Notably:

Manga: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure - Part 5: Golden Wind, JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken: Ougon no Kaze ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 黄金の風 (Chapter ブチャラティが来るその①)

• peron'
  ペロンッ
  *lick* (phenomime)
• kono aji wa!
  この味は！
  This taste [is]!
• .........
• {uso wo tsuiteru} "aji" daze......
  ウソをついてる『味』だぜ･･････
  A "taste" of {blowing lies}......
  A "taste" of {lying}......
  The taste of a liar......
  • ~teru is ~te-iru without i い.
• Joruno Jobaana!
  ジョルノ・ジョバァーナ！
  Giorno Giovanna!