Greetings

Good Morning, Goodnight, and Everything In Between

Alright, so you taught yourself hiragana! How cool is that? You’ve managed to teach yourself one of the three writing systems of Japanese. Let’s have you flaunt some of that new reading power by learning some short little set-phrases you can use to interact with people. The phrases on this page are things you would either say to someone in passing or to someone as you were striking up a conversation—specifically with someone you already know.

Side Note: Vocabulary words are grouped into distinct sections on Katsukats. If you follow the columns, words are organized by type, such as noun, adjective, etc. If you follow the rows, individual words will be first written in English, followed by the word written in Kanji (if there is one), and finally by the phonetic pronunciation of the word using a kana system (hiragana or katakana).

Vocabulary:

Kanji	Kana	English
お早う（ごさいます）	おはよう（ごさいます）	Good morning
今日は	こんにちは	Good afternoon
今晩は	こんばんは	Good evening
お休み（なさい）	おやすみ	Good night
行ってきます	いってきます	I’m leaving
行ってらっしゃい	いってらっしゃい	Take care
只今	ただいま	I’m home
お帰り（なさい）	おかえり（なさい）	Welcome home
頂きます	いただきます	Let’s eat
ご馳走様でした	ごちそうさまでした	Thank you for the meal

Politeness and Devoicing

Quickly, two things should be noted pertaining to politeness and how things are said so you can avoid confusion later on.

1. If a section of a word is written in parenthesis on the vocabulary list, adding that section is a more polite way to say the phrase. A general rule of thumb, if you’re not on a first name basis with someone, use the longer version of a phrase. If it’s longer, it’s probably more polite. Think of it as the difference between “Morning” and “Good morning” in English. You’re not really saying that you want the person to have a better morning with the second phrase; you’re just being more polite.

2. い and う sounds can become devoiced when spoken. For example, one word coming up in the next section, です, is generally pronounced as “dess” even though it’s spelled “de・su.” Another example of this is the word ending ます which you will come across in the next section as part of いってきます which has an ending that is spelled “ma・su” but is pronounced like “moss.” This isn’t something you should worry about too much right now as it’s something you will pick up with time, just be aware.

Hello World!

It’s time you learn to speak your very first words in Japanese! Don’t worry, all the greeting phrases in this first lesson are used in the same exact way you would use their English counterparts; you walk up to someone and say it. These phrases don’t require any knowledge of sentence structure, it’s for that reason you’re learning them first. They’re simple, effective, and get you reading and speaking.

To start, おはよう, こんにちは, こんばんは, and おやすみ are all phrases that have exact parallel usages in English. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight are all easy phrases to use so just follow your English-speaking instincts when wondering when to say each of these phrases.

Going and Coming:

Next, we’ll take a look at phrases you would use to interact with your family as people enter or leave your home. These phrases are pretty self-explanatory to use. If you’re leaving your house, you say いってきます. If you’re the family member staying home watching that person leave, you say いってらっしゃい.

Now we need to reverse the situation since there’s different phrases for when people are coming home! When that person comes home they will say ただいま and you will respond with おかえり.

Side Note: Politeness levels are important here, if you’re greeting someone “higher” than you on a familial totem pole use the politer versions of these phrases but if the reverse is true, use the more casual versions. Japanese is all about manners!

Thanks For The Food!

いただきます and ごちそうさま are phrases you use before and after a meal, respectively. They express to people around you that you’re thankful for all the hard work that went into getting your food to your place. And not just the cooking of the food but the farming, fishing, processing, etc. You just clap your hands together, bow your head, and say the phrase! That’s all there is to it!

Practice!

• You are greeting your family at 7:00 AM as you sit down for breakfast.
• You just returned home after a long day of work at 5:00 PM.
• You just finished eating dinner with your family and want to head to bed.

BEFORE MOVING ON…

…Make sure you’re comfortable with greeting people in various situations with these phrases. You can practice these all throughout your day even if you’re not saying them aloud to people. Just think to yourself, “do any of the phrases I learned work in this situation?”