yaru やる

In Japanese, yaru やる means a bunch of things. It can mean "to do" in a dozen ways. It can mean "to give [something]," or be used as an auxiliary verb to say "to do [something] for [someone]," just like ageru 上げる. It can mean "to work [a profession]." It can mean "to murder [someone]". And it can mean "to have sex with [someone]."

Depending on its meaning, it's sometimes written with different kanji.

Manga: One Punch Man (Chapter 48)

To Do

The basic meaning of yaru やる is "to do," in the sense of "to perform a task," "to do something."

nani ka wo yaru
何かをやる
To do something.

From this, like any verb, it can be conjugated for various forms.

nani mo yaranai
何もやらない
To not do anything.
To do nothing.
nani wo yatte-iru?
何をやっている？
To be doing what?
What are [you] doing?
- iru いる
  To exist. (verb.)
  To be [doing]. (auxiliary verb.)

In this case, yaru やる can be spelled with kanji, as yaru 遣る, except it's normally spelled with hiragana.

yatta やった

The word yatta やった is often used in anime when the characters manage to achieve something.

yatta!
やった！
[I] did [it]!
[We] did [it]!

But it's simply the past form of yaru やる.

nani wo yatta?
なにをやった？
Did what?
What did [you] do?

yatta koto やったこと

The verb yaru is often used in relative clauses qualifying the light noun koto こと.

{watashi ga yatta} koto
私がやったこと
The thing [that] {I did}.
{yareru} koto wa subete yaru
やれることは全てやる
To do all the things [that] {is able-to-do}.
To do everything {[I] can do}.
To do everything [I] can.
To do everything in [my] power.
{yareru} koto wa subete yatta
やれることは全てやった
To have done everything [I] could.
To have done everything in [my] power.

In particular, it's used in the patterns koto aru ことある and koto nai ことない, which refer to whether the relative clause has or hasn't ever been true, in this case, whether you have or haven't ever done something.

{yatta} koto aru?
{Done} was ever true?
Have [you] ever {done} [it]?
{yatta} koto nai
やったことない
{Done} was never true.
[I] have never {done} [it].

yaritai やりたい

The word yaritai やりたい means "want to do." It's the verb yaru やる in its tai-form.

nani ka yaritai!
何かやりたい！
Something is want-to-do!
[I] want to do something!
{yaritai} koto ga aru?
やりたいことがある？
A thing [that] {is want-to-do} exists?
Is there something [that] {[you] want to do}?

Naturally, it can be conjugated to the negative form:

yaritakunai
やりたくない
[Something] is not want to do.
[I] don't want to do [it].

To Play

The verb yaru やる means "to perform a task." Sometimes, this translates as "to do" in English, but not always. For example:

geemu wo yaru
ゲームをやる
"To do" a game.
To play a game.

In general sense, the word for to play a video-game or computer game, and so on, is yaru. This is particularly weird since asobu 遊ぶ is often translated as "to play."

Usually, asobu 遊ぶ just means "to have fun."

geemu de asobu
ゲームで遊ぶ
With a game, to have fun.
To have fun, by [playing] a game.
To play a game.

Similarly, saying a sport is something you "do" means you're serious about it, it's not something you "have fun" with.

{basuke wo yatte-iru} hito
バスケをやっている人
A person [who] {is doing basket}.
A person [who] {plays basketball}.

yaru ki やる気

The phrase yaru ki やる気 means "to feel like doing something."

Grammatically, this is simply yaru as relative clause qualifying the noun ki 気. The only problem is ki 気 is practically impossible to translate to English. So let's ignore it.

{yaru} ki manman da!
やる気満々だ！
The feeling [of] {doing} is full.
[He's] fully motivated to do [it].
[He] really looks like he wants to do [it].

Manga: Gabriel DropOut, Gavuriiru Doroppuauto ガヴリールドロップアウト (Chapter 22)

haa...
はぁ・・・
Hah... (sigh.)
yaru-ki geeji
やる気ゲージ
Motivation gauge.
- keeji ケージ
  Cage. (the panel contains a typo.)
gu~~n
ぐ～ん
*going down*
Kurumizawa-san no yaru-ki ga'!
胡桃沢さんのやる気がっ！
Kurumizawa's motivation [is]...!
- Dropping!!!

One way it's often used in fighting anime is when yaru やる, "to do," refers "to do [a fight]." That is, whether they are feeling like fighting or not.

{yaru} ki ka?
やる気か？
Is [it] the feeling [of] {doing}?
Are [you] feeling like doing [it]?
Are [you] feeling like fighting [me]?
Do [you] want to fight [me]?

yarikata やり方

The word yarikata やり方 means "way-of-doing." It's used to refer to "how" you yaru something. For example:

shuuri wo yaru
修理をやる
To do the repair.
To repair [something].
shuuri no yaruikata
修理のやり方
The way-of-doing of the repair.
How to do the repair.
How to repair [something].

やんのかこら

The phrase yannoka kora やんのかこら means "[you] wanna fight, huh?!"

It's a contraction of {yaru} no ka, kora やるのか、こら, where the verb yaru やる qualifies the no の particle, which is acting as a nominalizer. The kora こら word can be used to call out someone. It's often seen in fiction about gangs, yakuza, that sort of thing.

Manga: Gintama 銀魂 (Chapter 17)

a~~~~~~~~~
あ゙～～～～～
Aahhn~~~~~~
- The dakuten ゛ diacritic implies a distorted, angry voice.
yannoka kora
やんのかコラ
[You] wanna do [it], huh?
[You] wanna fight, huh?

To Work As

The verb yaru やるcan also mean "to work as" something, as a profession.

kyoushi wo yatte-iru
教師をやっている
To be doing a teacher.
To be working as a teacher.

To Be

Although yaru やる is normally used with professions, it can also be applied with things that aren't really professions, but that are things you can claim "to be." In particular, hobbies:

otaku wo yatte-iru
オタクをやっている
To be doing otaku.
To call oneself an otaku.
To be an otaku.

Webcomic: One Punch Man (Chapter 1)

Context: who are you, caped baldy???
{shumi de hiiroo wo yatteiru} mono da
趣味でヒーローをやっている者だ
A person [who] {is doing "hero" as a hobby}.
Someone [who] {is a hero as a hobby}.

yatteiru ijou やっている以上

The phrase yatteiru ijou やっている以上 means "as long as doing [something]," often in the sense of "as long as I call myself [something], something must be expected." For example:

{sarariiman wo yatte-iru} ijou, {shikata no nai} koto da
サラリーマンをやっている、仕方のないことだ
So long as {salary-man is working}, a thing [that] {method is nonexistent} is.
So long as {[I'm] an office worker}, [that's] something {[I] can't avoid}.
- shikata ga nai 仕方がない
  Method is nonexistent.
  Having to way to do anything about it.
  Unavoidable.

Of course, it could also mean "so long as I'm doing this thing, this other thing will happen," in any sense of the verb yaru やる.

To Give

The word yaru やる can also be used like ageru あげる, meaning "to give." For example:

kore wo yaru
これをやる
[I']] give [you] this.
- kore wo ageru これをあげる
  (same meaning.)

Manga: One Punch Man (Chapter 48)

banana yaru
バナナやる
[I'll] give [you] a banana.
n? aa
ん？ああ
Hmm? Alright.
arigatou
ありがとう
Thanks.

The difference between ageru and yaru is that yaru やる is generally used toward someone who's inferior, while ageru あげる is used toward someone who's equal.

By the way, sashiageru 差し上げる is toward someone who's superior. (inferior normally means someone younger, or in a low position in a company, a kouhai, etc.)

esa wo yaru
餌をやる
To give food [to an animal].
- esa 餌
  Animal food. Pet food. Fodder. Lure.
- Animals are inferior to humans, most of the time.

Like everything in Japanese, this also means sashiageru is more likely to be used between complete strangers in a business setting, while yaru is more likely to be used in anime.

-te-yaru ～てやる

The phrase -te-yaru ～てやる, or -de-yaru ～でやる, is the auxiliary verb yaru やる coming after the te-form of another verb. In which case it means to do something "for" someone. The verb ageru あげる also works similarly.

oshiete yaru
教えてやる
[I'll] tell [you]. (some information.)
[I'll] teach [you].
- oshiete ageru 教えてあげる
  (same meaning.)

yatteyaru やってやる

The phrase yatteyaru やってやる means "[I'll] do [it] for [you]," or something along those lines. It's literally the word yaru やる twice, once as a normal verb and once as an auxiliary verb.

Since both yaru and ageru can be both normal and auxiliary verbs, they can both be auxiliary for each other or themselves; For example:

yatte-yaru やってやる
yatte-ageru やってあげる
[I'll] do it [for you].
ageru 上げる
To raise. (normal verb meaning.)
agete-yaru 上げてやる
agete-ageru 上げてあげる
[I'll] raise it [for you].
- ageru 上げる
  To raise [something]. (verb.)
  To do for [someone]. (auxiliary.)

yatteyarou やってやろう

The phrase yatteyarou やってやろう means "let's give it a try." The reason for this is a bit complicated, but it's literally the verb yaru twice with the auxiliary conjugated to volitional form.

yatte-yarou janee ka!
やってやろうじゃねぇか！
To do [A] for [B] let's, isn't it?! (literally.)
Let's do [A] for [B], shall not we?!
Let's give [A] a do for [B], shall we?!
Let's give [A] a try for [B], why not?!
Let's try doing [A] for [B], why not?!
Let's try doing [it], why not?!

An example:

Man, I wish I could circumnavigate the world in 80 days.
YATTE-YAROU JANAI!!!
やってやろうじゃない！！！
LET'S TRY DOING IT, WHY NOT!!!

kureteyaru くれてやる

The phrase kureteyaru くれてやる means "[I'll] give [it] to [you]." It's the verb kureru くれる which also means "to give," plus the auxiliary verb yaru やる.

Normally, kureru is always used when someone else is giving something to you, however, technically, it also means just "to give."

In particular, the following phrase is basically only seen in anime:

kurete-yaru
くれてやる
[I'll] give it [to you].
- yatteyaru やってやる
  (same meaning.)
hoshii nara kurete-yaru
欲しいならくれてやる
[If you] want [it] then [I'll] give it [to you].

Note that just because it says "to give" that doesn't mean it's something good. For example, "to give someone a beating" has the verb "to give" in it.

To Kill

The word yaru やる can also mean "to murder." In this case, it's also spelled with the kanji for korosu 殺す, "to kill."

nan'nin mo yatta
何人もやった
[He] killed even an unknown number of people.
[He] killed a lot of people.
- nan'nin mo yatta
  何人も殺った
  (same meaning, gikun.)

To Have Sex With

The word yaru やる can also mean "to have sex with."

nan'nin mo yatta
何人もやった
[He] had sex with a lot of people.

If it's spelled with the kanji for okasu 犯す, "to do something you shouldn't do," e.g. "to violate [a law, a rule]," or "to rape [someone]," the meaning may change greatly.

nan'nin mo yatta
何人も犯った
[He] raped a lot of people.

This yaru 犯る spelling can also be used when "to do" something means "to commit [a crime]."^{[「やる」について意味なんですけど「犯る」 - detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp, accessed 2019-05-02]}

By the way, the meme yaranaika? actually comes from this usage.

yaranai ka?
やらないか？
Won't [you] have sex with [me]?