Greeting Phrases

Learn Japanese greeting phrases which are used in everyday life. In Japanese language, there are vairous greeting phrases according to the situation or season. But, the daily greetings are simple. We introduced common phrases in everyday situation. Let's learn it and use it today.

How do you do; To the person whom you meet for the first time

Good morning

Good afternoon

Good evening

Good night

See you, Bye

See you tomorrow

Good-by

Long time, no see

Are you fine?; It is often translated into "how are you", but it's not used to the people whom you meet every day like English "how are you?", but to the people whom you meet after a long time. Ohayoo, konnichiwa and atsui desu ne etc. are used to the people whom you meet every day.

It's hot, isn't it?; These expressions on weather are used as daily greetings, like English "How are you?".

It's cold, isn't it?

It is a fine day, isn't it?

I'm sorry; Casual expression of apology

Excuse me, Sorry; In daily conversation, suimasen is overwhelming often used and it is also used as a light apology. The polite form is Sumimasen.

Said when you go out. (lit. Go and come back)

Reply to itte kimasu

When you return your home or office.


Reply to tadaima

When you leave office earlier than others.

1) Reply to o-saki ni shitsurei shimasu 2) When you finished something which you did with others such as a meeting.

Go ahead

lit. "be careful", To the person who will go to travel like "Have a nice trip" in English.

Congratulations Don't mention it

Please come in

Please have a seat

Please sit down, Please have a seat

Good Luck!, do your best, try hard

Days and Months

The days and months are frequently used in any conversation as well as the numbers. You need to learn these words to speak Japanese in the early stage of your study. Please review the numbers from one to ten in the previous section before learning this page. Months Days of a week
January February March April May June July August September October November December

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

Last, this & next

Day

Week
yesterday today tomorrow

Month

Year

last week this week next week

last month this month next month

last year this year next year

Japanese Numbers
Let's learn Japanese numbers with Audio. Japanese numerical systems are quite different from its English. Here, we introduced the basic numbers. There are two numerical systems in the Japanese language. The ichi, ni, san system and the hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu system. The ichi-system is used with number counters. The hitotsu-system is used independently without number counters (ex. 1-en, 1-mai, 1-dai). The hitotsu-system goes as far as 10 and cannot be use for people, time and money.

Numbers one to ten ichi-system

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

hitotsu-system
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

10 to 10,000 (ichi-system only) 10. 20. 30. 40. 50. 60. 70. 80. 90. 100.

100. 200. 300. 400. 500. 600. 700. 800. 900. 1000.

1000. 2000. 3000. 4000. 5000. 6000. 7000. 8000. 9000. 10000.

Large Numbers 1 10 100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000 10,000,000 100,000,000 1,000,000,000 10,000,000,000 100,000,000,000 1,000,000,000,000 10,000,000,000,000 100,000,000,000,000 1,000,000,000,000,000

Basic Japanese Expressions

How do you do.

Good morning.

Good afternoon. / Hello.

Good evening.

See you tomorrow.

I'm sorry to be late.

Please say hello to Tanaka.

This is my friend Mr. Tanaka.

Thank you for calling. (O in O-denwa is a prefix indicating politeness)

Who is it? / Can I have your name please? (used for a phone or at a door)

Please come in.

Come here, please.

Please have a seat.

How about some wine?

Yes, please. (reply to an offer for a drink or food) / Let's eat! (said before a meal or eating something.)

Just a second. / Hold on, please.

Can you draw a map?

Can you send me a guidebook?

Can you tell me how to use this?

Could you tell me your phone number?

Can you translate this letter?

May I open the window?

May I close the windows?

May I use (lit. borrow) the pen?

Excuse me. / I'm sorry (Suimasen is a colloquial of Sumimasen)

Can you give me a hand? / Can you help me?

Say it again, please.

What time is it now?

Please (do it) as soon as possible.

Where is the toilets?

How can I get there? (lit. how can I go there)

Do you know Yamada-san's phone number?

Japanese Conversation
How do you do? - Introduction 1.

Tanaka : Satoo Satoo : : Tanaka :

How do you do? I'm Tanaka. Nice to meet you. How do you do? I'm Satoo. I'm glad to meet you. Please come in. Thank you.

2.

Yamada : Lucy Lucy : : Yamada :

How do you do? I'm Yamada. Nice to meet you. How do you do? I'm Lucy. Nice to meet you. Are you a student? Yes, I am.

What is this? - this & that 1.

Tanaka : Lucy Lucy : : Tanaka :

What is that? This is an electric dictionary. May I see it? (lit. please show me) Yes, here you are.

2.

Lucy Lucy : : Tanaka : Tanaka : Lucy :

What is that? This is (a glass of a bottle of) wine. Is that Japanese wine? No. This is not Japanese wine. This is French wine. What is that over there? That is Italian wine.

Tanaka :

Where is it? 1.

Tanaka : Satoo Satoo : : Tanaka :

Where do you live? (lit. Where is your house?) I live in Yokohama. (lit. My house is in Yokohama.) Where is your office? It's in Shibuya.

2.


Greg Greg Greg Greg : Excuse me. Where is the station? : Yes. : Over there? : Oh, thank you very much! Woman : Do you mean the subway station? Woman : It's over there. Woman : Yes. It's next to the bank. Woman : You are welcome.

What time is it? 1.

Greg Greg : : Woman : Woman :

Excuse me. What time is it now? Just a moment, please. It's 8:00. I see. Thank you very much. You are welcome.

2.

Greg : Satoo : Greg : Satoo : Greg : Satoo :

() () ()
What time do Japanese banks open? They open at 9:00. What time do they close? (lit. stay open until?) They close at 3:00. (lit. stay open until 3:00). How about post offices? They are open from 9:00 until 5:00.

Where are you going? 1.

Tanaka : Satoo Satoo Satoo : : : Tanaka : Tanaka : Tanaka :

Where are you going for the weekend? I'm going to Hakone. How about you? I'm going to London on Saturday. London? Is it a business trip? Yes, it is. When will you come back to Japan? I will be back next Friday.

2.

Tanaka : Where is your office? Susan : It's in Shinjuku. Tanaka : How do you go there? Susan : I take a train (lit. I go by train). Tanaka : Around what time do you get back home?

Susan : I usually get back home around 7:00. Tanaka : Are you busy with your work? (lit. Is your job busy?) Susan : Yes, very busy.

Inviting friends and colleagues to events 1.

Greg : Satoo : Greg : Satoo : Greg : Satoo : Greg : Satoo :

Satoo-san, why don't we go and have lunch together? Yes, let's. What shall we have (to eat)? Oh well...what do you fancy? Hum...how about raamen? I had raamen yesterday, so I would rather have something else. Curry, then? That'll be nice. Let's have curry, then.

2.

Tanaka : Susan : Tanaka : Susan : Tanaka : Susan : Tanaka : Susan : Tanaka : Susan :

Will you be free this Saturday? I don't have any plans for that day so far. Why? (lit. What is it?) Why don't we go and watch a movie together? Movie? Yes. They're showing "Space Wars" at the cinema in Roppongi. Apparently, it's entertaining. That's good. Let's go, then. What time? How about 12? We'll have lunch before the movie... Yes, let's. Where shall we meet up? How about the ticket gate at the train station? All right. I'll see you Saturday, then, at the ticket gate at 12.

Important Japanese Verbs 100

We presented 100 Japanese verbs (including Shimasu verbs) with auido. These verbs are frequently used in the daily situation and are required to learn Japanese.

Regular Verbs

to eat to drink to buy to watch, look, see to show to write, draw, paint to send to make, produce, cook to use to meet / to match, fit to go to come to return to have, be at, exist (inanimate object) to have, be at, exist (animate object) to talk, speak to translate to lie down, go to bed to get up, wake up, happen, occur to be broken to repair, fix to give, present / to raise, lift up to receive, be given to borrow, rent to go up, rise to go down, drop

to increase to decrease to learn to memorize, learn, master to teach, inform, notice, let somebody know to check, investigate to forget to begin, start, open to finish, end to open to close to win to lose (a game) to turn, curve to stop / to stay (the night), lodge to get on, ride to get off to sit, have a seat to wash to grill, bake, roast, toast to cut to wear, put on (clothes) to take off (shoes, clothes) to take, get / to take a picture to do, play (something)

Suru Verbs [noun] o shimasu / suru

to learn, study to investigate, inquire to order (goods) to phone, call to decrease, drop to oppose, be against to announce to release, be on sale to reply, answer to change to translate to report to print to develop to check, confirm to manage, control to complete to calculate to get married to study, research to check, test, inspect to search to discuss, study, think over be absent from to return to one's country

to exchange, replace to be broken to contact, get in touch, inform to practice, drill to divorce to use to travel, make a trip to cook to agree, support to work to have a meal to go on a business trip to get job to attend to repair, fix to consult, discuss, talk with to graduate to take exercise to drive to promise, make an appointment to reserve, book to import to export to ein championship to increase, grow

Japanese Adjectives
Let's learn Japanese adjectives such as big and small, hot and cold. In Japanese language, there are two kinds of adjectives: regular adjectives called i-adjectives and irregular adjectives called na-adjectives. Here, we introduced iadjectives. The i-adjectives conjugate into different forms, affirmative or negative, present or past. All i-adjectives end with i. Each form can be made by changing the last, -i as follows.

ex.

atsui (hot)
Present Past

Affirmative
atsui atsu-katta

Negative
atsu-kunai atsu-kunakatta

expensive, high, tall inexpensive, cheap big, large small hot cold warm cool cold (object) delicious, tasty busy interesting, fun enjoyable, joyful uninteresting, boring nice, good near far heavy light long short bright, light dark new

old dangerous wide, spacious narrow difficult easy, gentle sweet hot, spicy noisy strong weak many, a lot few, a little thick (cylindrical object) thin (cylindrical object) thick (flat object) thin (flat object) lovely, cute painful happy, glad sad young fast, early slow, late