普通 (futsuu), a perfectly “normal” Japanese word

• 普通 (ふつう)、which is generally translated as “normal”, is an convenient word with several uses. I’ll go over a few of the more common ones in this post.

One of the simplest ways to use this word is by treating it as an adjective, by adding a の on the back end of it.

• 普通の人は夜遅くまで日本語の勉強をしないでしょう！
• A normal person would not study Japanese until late at night!

You can also use this word unmodified to mean “normally”. In the below example the は is optional.

• 普通（は）、お菓子ばっかり食べないと思うけど。
• I think that normally, people don’t eat nothing by candy.

If you want to say “normally” in an adverbial sense (meaning it modifies an action), it’s best to add a に to ふつう。

• このパソコン、どうやってつけたの？
• How did you turn this computer on?
• 普通にスイッチを押しただけだよ。
• I just pushed the switch normally.

A final way I have heard this word is to mean ”typical” or “nothing special”.

• 映画どうだった？
• How was the movie?
• 普通.
• It was OK.

You can use 普通に for a similar meaning when you want to modify another adjective or other word.

• 夕食はどうだった？
• How was dinner?
• 普通においしかった。
• It was alright, I guess.  (lit: “It was normally tasty”)

Another word with a similar meaning is 普段（ふだん), which means “usually” or “ordinarily”.

• 普段は朝の８時ごろに通勤するんだけど、その日は寝過ごしちゃって１０時ごろに家を出た。
• Usually I commute around 8am but that day I overslept so I left the house around 10.

One final thing to be careful of – if you say “普通の人はそんなことをしない”, you are probably implying someone is “abnormal”. If you want a safer expression, you can say ”一般の人は…” which means more like “an average person” or “the general public”.