How to Say "Everything" in Japanese: Zenbu, Subete, and 8 Related Words Explained

Have you ever wondered how to express “everything” in Japanese? There are several ways — subete, zenbu, mina, marugoto, arayuru, zentai, zettai — and each conveys a specific type of totality: things, people, complete ideas, abstract concepts, or even the feeling of “everything indeed, without exception.”

In this article, you will understand the real meaning of each word, the differences between them, when to use them, and the most common slips that confuse beginners and even intermediate students. The goal is simple: to help you use each term naturally, without memorizing impossible rules.

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1. 全て – subete: “everything” in a broad and formal way

Subete is usually written in hiragana (すべて) in everyday life, but its kanji conveys the idea of “everything in general,” in a more conceptual way. It is a gentle, comprehensive word, often used in formal, written, or more elegant contexts.

It describes totality in the abstract sense: everything in the world, everything that exists, all hope, all humanity. Use subete when the sentence has a general, poetic, academic, or philosophical tone.

神の目には人はすべて平等である。
Kami no me ni wa hito wa subete byōdō de aru;

In the eyes of God, all people are equal.

すべてのバスは満員です。
Subete no basu wa man'in desu;

All the buses are full.

その男はすべての希望を失った。
Sono otoko wa subete no kibō o ushinatta;

The man lost all hope.

お金がすべてではない。
Okane ga subete de wa nai;

Money is not everything.

全ての人間は平等である。
Subete no ningen wa byōdō de aru;

Every human being is equal.

それが全てです。
Sore ga subete desu;

That is everything.

If you want to be sure which word is more correct in a sentence, paste a snippet of it into Google and see which form comes up more often — a quick search (Ctrl + F) usually settles it.

2. 全部 – zenbu: “everything” in a concrete, direct, everyday way

Zenbu is the most common word in everyday speech, used for things you can count, grab, finish, consume, or sum up. It is the “everything” of lists, objects, money, quantities, and tasks — practical and concrete situations.

Want to see how that works in a few example sentences?

彼は本を全部読んだ。
Kare wa hon o zenbu yonda;

He read the book from cover to cover.

This sentence can also mean every book in a set, since zenbu points at the whole portion of something.

それは全部で１００ドルでした。
Sore wa zenbu de 100-doru deshita;

It came to a total of $100.

Using 全部 to express the full amount spent.

我々は全部で、７人です。
Wareware wa zenbu de nananin desu;

We are seven people in total.

This sentence uses 全部 to give the full size of a group.

生徒は全部で何人ですか？
Seito wa zenbu de nanijin desu ka?

How many students are there in total?

3. The Kanji for Everything: 全

Notice that both words are built on the kanji 全, which means whole, everything, and complete. A few common words that use this ideogram:

• Encyclopedia — 大全 — taizen
• Not at all, nothing — 全然 — zenzen
• All members — 全員 — zen'in
• The whole country — 全国 — zenkoku
• Whole, overall — 全体 — zentai
• Complete destruction — 全滅 — zenmetsu
• The whole school — 全校 — zenkou

The kanji 全 also shows up in the very common adverb mattaku (全く), which means “really,” “entirely,” “indeed,” and “completely.” That overlap is why you have to be careful before reaching for zenbu or subete when another word in the sentence already signals totality.

4. What Are the Differences Between Subete and Zenbu?

We can start by saying that subete (全て) is a word of Japanese origin, while zenbu (全部) is built only from ideograms and came from Chinese. The second character in zenbu, 部, points at a section, department, part, portion, component, or element — in other words, zenbu refers to the whole portion or every element of a set. As mentioned above, subete is usually written in hiragana: すべて.

It is often said that subete feels gentler, while zenbu feels more objective. Subete can sound more poetic in some contexts. Both work as nouns, but only subete (全て) can also work as an adverb. Even though there is no hard rule on paper, subete shows up more in formal situations than zenbu does, and zenbu is the one you hear more often for money, counting, and numbers.

Subete is slightly more advanced vocabulary than zenbu: a three- or four-year-old will say zenbu when they want all the toys, and by around ten they may start switching to subete. Zenbu leans toward the finite, the bounded, the countable; subete leans toward the open-ended, the universal, the “everyone and everything.” Zenbu covers what is contained; subete covers what is included in the world. Zenbu feels more complete; subete feels more like “all of it, all of them.” Zenbu tends to be frequently used to refer to money, counting, and numbers.

By the way, 全部 is not a good fit when you want to point at a group of people. In many situations すべて and 全部 are interchangeable — but すべて tends to be the better choice for general topics, abstract ideas, or anything academic.

5. 皆 / みんな – “everyone” (for people)

みんな is used exclusively to refer to groups of people, never to objects. It works in casual and natural contexts, such as when you talk about friends, colleagues, students, or any human collective.

When someone says みんな, the focus is on the whole group as a unit, without singling out individuals. It is the most common and direct way to say “everyone” when the subject involves people.

Example: みんな来たよ。 — minna kita yo. — Everyone has arrived.

6. 丸ごと – “the whole thing, start to finish”

丸ごと conveys the idea of something whole, complete, without division. It is a great pick when you want to emphasize that something was consumed, done, or experienced in full, with no parts left aside.

It is a very visual word, used for both physical objects and complete experiences, such as traveling, visiting places, or enjoying something from start to finish.

Example: 日本を丸ごと楽しみたい。 — nihon o marugoto tanoshimitai. — I want to enjoy the whole of Japan.

7. 有らゆる – “each and every one”

有らゆる gives the feeling of distributed totality, where each individual element matters on its own. It is more formal and behaves a lot like “every” in English, showing up often in explanatory texts and more elaborate speeches.

When you use 有らゆる, you are saying that not only the whole group matters, but also each item that composes it, one by one.

Example: 有らゆる可能性。 — arayuru kanōsei. — All possibilities.

8. 全体 – “the whole, the totality”

全体 represents the complete set of something, the sum of the parts forming a single body. It does not mean “everything” loosely, but rather “the whole” of something that has structure.

It fits contexts that involve percentages, general analysis, or the description of a set — a human body, an organization, a statistical group.

Example: 全体の3％。 — zentai no san-pāsento. — 3% of the whole.

9. 絶対 – “absolutely”

絶対 does not mean “everything,” but it does carry an idea of totality in the sense of absolute certainty. It expresses something definitive, non-negotiable, and 100% guaranteed — or, on the flip side, absolutely impossible.

It can signal determination (“I'm going anyway!”) or absolute denial (“there's no way”). It is emotional, emphatic, and widely used in speech.

Example: 絶対行く！ — zettai iku! — I'm going no matter what!

10. 全然 – “not at all / totally”

全然 is an interesting word because its usage has shifted over time. Traditionally it means “not at all,” but in modern conversation it can also mean “totally” when it sits inside an affirmative sentence.

The context and tone decide which meaning is being conveyed. With a negative → “not at all / nothing”; with a positive → “totally / completely.”

Example: 全然分からない。 — zenzen wakaranai. — I don't understand anything.

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