SESKStuff Everyone Should Know
SESK: Stuff Everyone Should Know · sesk.info/ja-lost-wallet

How do you tell someone 'I lost my wallet' in Japanese?

Saifu o otoshite shimaimashita. (財布を落としてしまいました。)

Start playing free

  1. Saifu o otoshite shimaimashita. (財布を落としてしまいました。) ✔
  2. Saifu o kaitai desu. (財布を買いたいです。)
  3. Saifu wa ikura desu ka. (財布はいくらですか。)

Why: Saifu is wallet, otosu is to drop or lose, and shimaimashita shows regret. The wrong choices say 'I want to buy a wallet' and ask the price.

Huh, didn't know that: NHK says to go to a kooban, a neighborhood police box, where an officer asks what the wallet looks like.

The dad joke
I lost my wallet in Tokyo, and the kooban found it before I even finished my sentence.
Like this card?
Play the game

References

Answer: Saifu o otoshite shimaimashita. (財布を落としてしまいました。). Saifu is wallet, otosu is to drop or lose, and shimaimashita shows regret. The wrong choices say 'I want to buy a wallet' and ask the price.

  1. NHK WORLD-JAPAN Easy Japanese, Lesson 39 www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/lesson/en/lessons/39.html
    Haru-saan, saifu o otoshite shimaimashita. Haru-san, I lost my wallet.
    Checked 2026-10-10.

Think this answer is wrong? Tap "Challenge this answer" on the card in the game and tell us why.

Test yourself in the game

LanguagesWhich Japanese word do you shout in an emergency to mean 'Help!'?LanguagesIn Japan, where should you go if you lose your wallet?LanguagesHow do you politely ask 'Excuse me. Where is the toilet?' in Japanese?

That's stuff everyone should know.