[Japanese for Beginners] Chapter 2: Basic Greetings

By Jaime Brownyard

The difference between おはよう and おはようございます is that the latter is more polite. You use polite forms when you are speaking to someone you would normally refer to as Mr./Mrs. in English. As you can see, there is only a form for this during the day. In the afternoon and evening, it is considered appropriate to say the person’s name first, followed by the greeting, e.g.: せんせい、こんにちは。 (sensei, konnichiwa.) Good afternoon, Professor.

You may also note that in こんにちは and こんばんは, the hiragana は (ha) is used, instead of わ (wa). This is because the greeting is a shortened form of a sentence that uses the wa(ha)–desu structure, such as: こんばんはさむいです。(konban wa samui desu.) Tonight is cold.

While all three of these mean “Goodbye”, there is a substantial difference in usage. さようなら is used when the speaker means that they do not expect to see each other for a long time, maybe not even until they meet again in the other world. またね is used between friends who expect to see each other fairly soon. しつれいします is used to indicate a polite goodbye, as it mean roughly “Pardon me for leaving”. When leaving a classroom, for instance, you would say さようなら to a guest speaker, しつれいします to your professor, and またね to your classmates.

すみません is the more formal form of “I’m sorry.” It can be used to get another person’s attention politely, to apologize for trouble you have caused, or to act as a polite “Thank you” in appreciation for what someone has gone out of his or her way to do for you. ごめんなさい is also used in this way, but is slightly less formal, used between people who know each other. Friends and family members will often use the short form, ごめん。

“Thank you”s rank in the following order of formality, from the least formal to most formal: どうも、ありがとう 、どうもありがとう、ありが とうございます、 and どう もありがとうございます。 The more formal your thank you, the greater your expression of thanks; however, どうも should be used between friends and family only.

いいえ means “It was nothing,” or “Don’t mention it”, a friendly form of “You’re welcome.”” どういたしまして is more formal, and only means “You’re welcome.”

いいえ also means “No.” はい is a formal yes, while ええ is an informal yes. However, in informal situations, both are used interchangeably.

いってきます means “I will go and come back”, and is used when you leave the house. The response of your housemates will then be いってらっしゃ い, which means “Please go and come back.” When you come home, you announce ただいま (“I’m home now”), and your housemates respond おかえりなさい (a polite “Welcome home.”)

These expressions are used only when you first meet someone, or introduce yourself. They are never used afterward. どうぞよろしく literally means “Please treat me nicely.”

Unlike English, “How are you?” in Japanese is used mostly in formal situations, and when a person is already an acquaintance and has not been seen for a long time. おげんきですか

Other lessons in this series:

• Japanese for Beginners: Chapter 1 The Japanese Alphabet
• Japanese for Beginners: Chapter 2 Basic Greetings
• Japanese for Beginners: Chapter 3 Basic Sentence Structure
• Japanese for Beginners: Chapter 4 The Copula (to be or not to be)
• Japanese for Beginners: Learning Kanji Grade 1

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