Grammar Info

N4 Lesson 1: 5/18

どんどん

Progressively, Rapidly increasing, More and more

どんどん - Swift change, だんだん - Gradual change

Structure

どんどん + （と） + Phrase

Details

  • Register

    Standard

  • 使用域

    一般

About どんどん

どんどん (or ドンドン) is one of the countless words in Japanese that represent a particular sound or sensation. These words are known as onomatopoeia (オノマトペ in Japanese). どんどん represents the sound of banging (like on a drum), or the pounding of feet. In this way, it is regularly translated as 'rapidly', or 'quickly'.
Like だんだん, どんどん may be used before almost any phrase.
  • 彼女(かのじょ)が出来(でき)てからどんどんお金(かね)が減(へ)っていく。
    Since I got a girlfriend, my cash has been rapidly decreasing.
  • どんどん頼(たの)んでね！
    Quickly order! (Literally means 'more and more' in a sentence like this, with the nuance of 'don't hold back, order in rapid succession')
While どんどん can take the particle と, it is not required. In fact, と is very often omitted from adverbs/onomatopoeic words in Japanese.
  • バスの運転手(うんてんしゅ)がどんどんと減(へ)っている。
    The number of bus drivers is rapidly decreasing.
Caution
Initially, it can be easy to mix-up どんどん, with だんだん. だんだん is used to express slower changes, and may be thought of as similar to 'steadily', or 'step by step' in English.
  • 毎日(まいにち)ピアノを練習(れんしゅう)しているから、だんだんピアノが上手(じょうず)になってきた。
    Because I practice the piano everyday, I have steadily gotten better at playing. (Slow progression)
  • 毎日(まいにち)ピアノを練習(れんしゅう)しているから、どんどんピアノが上手(じょうず)になってきた。
    Because I practice the piano everyday, I have rapidly gotten better at playing. (Rapid progression)
Fun Fact
When the と particle is used with onomatopoeic words, it is very similar to one of と's main usages as a quotation marker in Japanese. This means that と has a similar role to words like 'went', or 'goes' in English. For example, In English, we would say:
The door 'goes' BANG with the wind.
However, the door doesn't actually go anywhere. This is similar to what と is doing here.

Examples

  • どんどん暑(あつ)くなる。

    It will progressively get warmer and warmer.

  • どんどん日本語(にほんご)が上手(じょうず)になりたい。

    I want to progressively get better at Japanese.

  • 先週(せんしゅう)から、彼(かれ)の意見(いけん)がどんどん増(ふ)えた。

    (The number of) his opinions have rapidly increased starting from last week.

  • 日本(にほん)の人口(じんこう)がどんどん減(へ)る。

    The Japanese population will rapidly decrease.

  • 音(おと)がどんどん大(おお)きくなる。

    The sound will get louder and louder.

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どんどん – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (4 in total)

  • mrnoone

    mrnoone

    About 3 years ago

    You can use both answers here (With slightly different nuances)

    As you know, the difference lays in tempo - だんだん would be slower, while どんどん is more rapid. Also, どんどん (comes from drumming noise) sometimes is understood to express continuous change, while だんだん (段々 - kanji used for stairs/steps is used) to express the change that happens in small increments.

    This is why どんどん is most of the time translated as “steadily, rapidly, more and more” while だんだん as “gradually, by degrees, by steps, more and more”.

    When the last translation is used, the nuance is kind of lost though.

    I hope it helps,
    Cheers!

  • Ambo100

    Ambo100

    About 3 years ago

    どんどん → swift change
    だんだん → more gradual change

    I keep confusing these two so the way I’m trying to think about them now is:

    どんどん - Also used as Japanese onomatopoeic in Katakana for a drumming and banging noise, so typically fast.

    だんだん - Derived from the kanji form 段々, you can think of this as ‘step by step’ so typically something more gradual.

  • testing

    testing

    About 1 year ago

    Thanks for those explanations! I feel like they point me in the right direction, but I’m not sure how to differentiate between “steadily” and “rapidly”.

    E.g., どんどん日本語が上手になりたい。( I want to steadily get better at Japanese.)

    If someone tells me that they want to “steadily” get better at it, it feels like “consistent change”, but not necessarily fast. But does どんどん日本語が上手になりたい。 always have the connotations of both “consistently” and “quickly” at the same time? How would I know which one? It feels like most contexts would make both equally likely.

    Same problem with 日本の人口がどんどん減る。(The Japanese population will steadily decrease.)

    After reading the Japanese sentence, I would’ve expected it to decrease rapidly, but from the English sentence I would expect it to be constant, but not super quick.

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