来年
らいねん
rainen
= next year
来年 is the word Japanese speakers reach for whenever they talk about plans, hopes, or promises tied to the year just around the corner. Its crisp two-syllable rhythm makes it one of the most naturally flowing time words in the language.
来年 refers to the calendar year immediately following the current one. It functions as both a noun and an adverb, meaning it can stand on its own as the subject of a sentence or modify a verb directly without a particle — you can say rainen iku (I’ll go next year) without adding anything between them. The word is built from rai (来), a prefix meaning “coming” or “next,” and nen (年), meaning “year.” This same rai prefix appears in raigetsu (来月, next month) and raishuu (来週, next week), so learning 来年 gives you a template for the whole family of “next” time expressions. In formal writing and speech, 来年 sits comfortably in business documents, speeches, and official announcements. In casual conversation it is equally natural, making it one of the most register-neutral time words you will encounter at the N5 level.
The most common learner slip is confusing 来年 with 今年 (kotoshi, this year) and 去年 (kyonen, last year). Keep the trio together: kyonen → kotoshi → rainen (last → this → next). A second pitfall is adding に after 来年 unnecessarily: because it acts as an adverb, 来年に is grammatically odd in most sentences — just say 来年 alone before the verb. If you need to go one step further, 再来年 (sarainen) means the year after next, using the same 来 prefix doubled.
来 (rai) originally depicted a wheat plant and was borrowed phonetically to mean “come” or “arrive,” giving rise to its sense of something approaching. 年 (nen / toshi) shows a person carrying a harvest, connecting the idea of a full cycle of agricultural seasons to the concept of a year. Together, 来年 literally pictures “the year that is coming toward you.”
Everyday use
来年、一緒に京都へ行こうよ。
Rainen, issho ni Kyoto e ikou yo.
Let’s go to Kyoto together next year.
Casual / Social Media
来年もみんなにとって良い年になりますように！
Rainen mo minna ni totte ii toshi ni narimasu you ni!
I hope next year is a wonderful year for everyone!
Formal / Cultural context
来年度の事業計画につきましては、第四四半期の報告書にてご説明いたします。
Rainen-do no jigyou keikaku ni tsukimashite wa, dai-yon shihan-ki no houkokusho nite go-setsumei itashimasu.
Regarding next fiscal year’s business plan, we will provide an explanation in the fourth-quarter report.
The year-end and New Year period — known as 年末年始 (nenmatsu nenshi) — is when 来年 saturates everyday Japanese life more than at any other time. From late December, colleagues exchange the set phrase rainen mo yoroshiku onegaishimasu (来年もよろしくお願いします), a formal expression of goodwill that signals both gratitude for the current year and an intention to maintain the relationship into the next. New Year’s cards (年賀状, nengajou), which millions of Japanese still send by post, almost always include a line looking forward to 来年, making the word inseparable from the ritual of renewal that defines the Japanese new year.
Beyond the holiday season, 来年 carries weight in Japan’s strong culture of annual goal-setting and long-term planning. School entrance exams, company fiscal years, and seasonal hiring cycles all operate on a strict yearly rhythm, so phrases like rainen no shiken (来年の試験, next year’s exam) or rainen-do (来年度, next fiscal year) are used with a seriousness that reflects how much annual milestones shape Japanese life. This yearly cadence means that for many Japanese speakers, 来年 is not just a neutral time reference — it carries a quiet sense of fresh starts and renewed commitment.