8 Popular Greetings in Japanese

1. Ohayou gozaimasu
 (kanji: お早うございます, hiragana: おはようございます)
This greeting is how you would say “good morning” in Japanese. The kanji 早 used here
means “morning.”

The greeting also reflects a common tendency in Japanese expressions, phrases, and verbs.
Basically, the longer the phrase, the more formal it is. There are often several different levels
of formality.

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“Ohayou gozaimasu” is the full, formal greeting. If you’re speaking to friends, you might wish
to shorten it to “ohayou” (kanji: お早う, hiragana: おはよう).

2. Hajimemashite
 (kanji: 始めまして, hiragana: はじめまして)

This greeting in Japanese means “How do you do?” or “Nice to meet you.” Use it when
you’re meeting someone for the first time.

The phrase comes from a respectful conjugation of the verb “hajimeru” (kanji: 始める), which
means “to begin” or “to start.” In this case, you’re starting a new relationship with someone,
so whether it be a potential friend, colleague, or acquaintance, be sure to start off well!

3. Konnichi wa
 (hiragana: こんにちは, kanji: 今日は)

This is probably the most well-known Japanese greeting. It translates to “good day” or “hello”
in English.

Literally, the kanji for “kon” (今) means “this,” and the kanji for “nichi” (日) means “day.” “Wa”
(は) is a grammatical particle that marks the main subject of a sentence – in this case,
“today.”
4. Konban wa
 (kanji: 今晩は, hiragana: こんばんは)
“Konban wa” means “good evening,” and you can use this greeting in Japanese to say “hello”
at night. The structure is the same as that of “konnichi wa,” the only difference is the use of 晩
(ban) for “evening” in place of 日 (nichi) for “day.”
Related: How to discuss family in Japanese and How to count to 10 in Japanese numbers

5. Tadaima
 (kanji: 只今; 唯今, hiragana: ただいま)

Use this greeting when you get home and want to announce your presence! It literally
means, “I’ve returned.” It can also be translated as “I’m home.”

6. Oyasumi nasai
 (hiragana: おやすみなさい)

Say this to your family or roommates when you’re going to bed. Don’t use it when you’re
leaving a friend’s house for the night, though.
It’s an approximate equivalent to “good night” in English. Similarly to “good morning,” this
greeting in Japanese can be shortened to create the less formal equivalent,
“oyasumi” (おやすみ).

7. Moshi-Moshi
 (kanji: 申し申し, hiragana: もしもし)
Use this to say “hello” when you answer the telephone. It’s the humble form of “imasu”(kanji:
言います, hiragana: いいます), which is one of the Japanese verbs that means “to say.”

8. Irasshaimase
 (kanji: いらっしゃいませ)
You may not have the opportunity to use this greeting in Japanese very often, but you might
hear it when you visit a restaurant or shop. You could hear a business owner or employee
use this phrase to welcome customers to their store. The greeting consists of the honorific
imperative form of the verb “irrassharu” (いらっしゃる) meaning “to come.”
Basic Japanese Grammar Cheat Sheet

Learning Japanese can be a bit overwhelming at times, but it ultimately boils down
to a few simple rules.

Remembering and internalising those rules will give you the biggest boost on your
path to fluency, because you only need to learn them once and you can then apply
them every single time you speak, read, write or listen to Japanese.
It can be hard to bring yourself to study the same things over and over again, so
I’ve made a handy little cheat sheet to make it easy.

Well, really, I’ve made two – one with romaji and one with hiragana. Here’s a
zoomed-out look at the hiragana version:
 Japanese Sentence Structure Cheat Sheet

The best part? I’m giving these cheat sheets away for free.
Just click below to get your copy of these printable PDFs, which are available in
both A4 and A3 sizes.

Click here to download the cheat sheet

Want more details before you download?

Read on for a quick breakdown of what’s included on the cheat sheet.

Sentence Structure Diagram

This first diagram is, simply, an expanded version of my sentence structure
diagram explained in detail in this article, with a few tweaks and additions. It gives
an overview of how different ‘things’ involved in an action are properly combined
with a particle to be included in a sentence.
  Romaji

 ひらがな

This basic structure applies to almost all Japanese sentences, and can be
expanded further for building more complex sentences.

The only major exception is sentences where the main verb at the end is
“desu”/「です」, although the structure for these is essentially the same. I’ll write
more about that soon. (Basic gist: the verb is “desu”/「です」, most element/particle
combinations can’t be used since they don’t make sense, and the last word before
“desu”/「です」 doesn’t need a particle.)

Confusing Particle Pairs

This section highlights four particle pairs that can be a bit confusing:

 は vs が / wa vs ga (read a much more detailed comparison of these here)

 で vs に / de vs ni (you can read about these two here)
 に vs へ / ni vs he
 Time expressions that require the particle に/ni vs those that don’t

 Romaji

 ひらがな

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Adverbs
This next section is a simple overview of the different types of adverbs that can be
used in sentences, as shown in the main diagram. A few examples of each adverb
type are provided as a reminder.
  Romaji

 ひらがな

Check out this article for a more comprehensive look at using adverbs in
Japanese.

Examples
Finally, the cheat sheet includes five example sentences as diagrams, with each
of the particles from the main diagram represented at least once.

 Romaji

 ひらがな