Learn how to meet new people and say hello to friends and acquaintances in polite Japanese
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| Is Mastering Basic Japanese greetings really this easy? Yep, you will learn a few tips to master basic Japanese greetings fast with this introduction lesson. In this lesson, you are going to learn how to say hi, how are you in Japanese and how to answer. It’s super easy and it only takes 3 minutes. Let’s learn a short dialogue. |
| So here is the typical conversation you hear every day in Japan. こんにちは。 (Konnichiwa.) Hi げんきですか。 (Genki desu ka.) how are you げんきです。 (Genki desu.) I am fine. こんにちは。 (Konnichiwa.) Hi or hello. こ、ん、に、ち、は。 (Ko, n, ni, chi, wa.) こんにちは (konnichiwa). こんにちは (konnichiwa) is a general greeting meaning hi or hello. It also means good afternoon as one of the greetings for the day but you can say こんにちは。 (Konnichiwa.) all day long as a greeting when you meet people. |
| Next we have げんきですか。 (Genki desu ka.) how are you. Let’s take a closer look げんきですか。 (Genki desu ka.) how are you げ、ん、き、で、す、か。 (Ge, n, ki, de, su, ka.) げんきですか。 (Genki desu ka.). げんき (genki) means healthy です (desu) is basically same meaning as to be in English, か is a sentence ending particle that can be used to make a question げんきですか。 (genkidesu ka.) literally means are you healthy but it is used to mean how are you. |
| Now the easy part, answering the question. To answer the question げんきですか。 (Genki desu ka.) how are you, you just say げんきです。 (Genki desu.) I am fine. You just have to drop the か(ka) at the end. げんきです。 (Genki desu.) I am fine げ、ん、き、で、す。 (ge, n, ki, de, su.) げんきです。 (Genki desu.) Let’s take a look at these two lines. Person A, げんきですか。 (Genki desu ka.) how are you. Person B, げんきです。 (Genki desu.) I am fine. The only difference is, you drop the か(ka) when answering the question. |
| See this conversation. We are going to shorten it down. Ta-dah! (Ta-dah!) Here we have the same conversation げんき？ (Genki?) how are you げんき。 (Genki.) I am fine. The only difference is the intonation げんき？ (Genki?) げんき。 (Genki.) I am fine げんき？ (Genki?) げんき。 (Genki.) Now be careful. This is a very informal conversation. Don’t use it with your teachers or in business situations. |
| Now before you go, let’s look at two other responses to how are you. First we have まあまあ。 (Māmā.) so so. さいあく。 (Saiaku.) Bad or I am not doing good at all. So now let’s practice. So I will ask you how you are and you respond こんにちは、げんきですか。 (Konnichiwa, genki desu ka.) げんきです。 (Genki desu.) Good job. Now, you ask me how are you げんきです。 (Genki desu.) まあまあです。 (Māmā desu.) さいあくです。 (Saiaku desu.) |
| げんきですかー！ (Genki desu kā!) げんきがあれば、なんでもできる。 (Genki ga areba, nandemo dekiru.) げんきですかー！ (Genki desu kā!) |
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