What is the difference between "働きます", "仕事する", "作業", "息が合う"?

"働きます" means "to work", "仕事する" means "to work; to do work", "作業" means "work; operation; task; manufacturing; manual labor", "息が合う" means "to work well together".

Quadruple VS

Synonym Boundary: "働きます", "仕事する", "作業", "息が合う"

All represent the core concept "work", but require precise selection.

Japanese Option A

働きます

はたらきます (hatarakimasu)

N5 / CEFR

Japanese Option B

仕事する

しごとする (shigoto suru)

N4 / CEFR

Japanese Option C

作業

さぎょう (sagyō)

N3 / CEFR

Japanese Option D

息が合う

いきがあう (ikigaau)

B2 / CEFR

Quadruple VS Nuance Contrast & Social Differences

When expressing "work" in Japanese, you must carefully distinguish between "働きます", "仕事する", "作業", "息が合う" based on context.

働きます (はたらきます (hatarakimasu) - Level: N5): Maps to "to work" and is used when Polite form of 働く.
仕事する (しごとする (shigoto suru) - Level: N4): Maps to "to work; to do work" and is used when A very common verb used for performing a job or task, often implying employment. It combines the noun '仕事'.
作業 (さぎょう (sagyō) - Level: N3): Maps to "work; operation; task; manufacturing; manual labor" and is used when Refers to physical or mental work, operations, manufacturing tasks, or routine processing. Often used as 組み立て作業 or データ入力作業. ⚠️ Haruka's Voice Column: 'Task! "Drawing the architectural blueprint to live together with you, Haruka-san, is a task that makes my hands shake from happiness!" ...っ! T-To call new home planning a task! B-Baka! That's a lifetime joint project! But... make sure the kitchen and garden tasks are shared by the two of us forever! dummy!' / 【ハルカ部長のワンポイント指導】『さぎょう（作業）よ！『ハルカさんと一緒に暮らすための新居の設計図を描く作業、幸せすぎて鉛筆を持つ手が震えます！』って…っ！新居設計の作業！バカ！…作業だなんて事務的に言わないの！人生最大の共同プロジェクトでしょ！…お庭のガーデニング作業も、一生二人で仲良くおしゃべりしながら共同作業しなさいよね！』.
息が合う (いきがあう (ikigaau) - Level: B2): Maps to "to work well together" and is used when Essential structural term in CEFR B2 vocabulary syllabus..

Mixing these up can easily lead to unnatural translations. Refer to the bilingual context cards below to master the boundaries!

Context for "働きます"

私は毎日8時間働きます。

I work 8 hours every day.

Context for "仕事する"

私は毎日会社で仕事をします。

I work at the company every day.

Context for "作業"

工場での組み立て_______を完全自動化ロボットに移行することにより、ヒューマンエラーによる不良品の発生を劇的に防止しました。

By shifting the assembly work in the factory to completely automated robots, the occurrence of defective goods due to human errors was dramatically prevented.

Context for "息が合う"

毎日、日本語を練習するために息が合う。

Every day, I work well together to practice Japanese.

Synonym Mastery Challenge

Which Japanese word perfectly fits this blank space?

Fill in the blank: "私は毎日8時間＿＿＿。" (Meaning: "I work 8 hours every day.")

🎉 Correct Answer!

Remember: "働きます" is correct here because it represents "to work" in the context: "I work 8 hours every day.".