Learn the difference between the casual and more polite forms of the phrases
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| Remember in our previous lesson, we learned こんにちは。 (Konnichiwa) is a general greeting meaning hi or hello. In this lesson, we are going to learn more general greetings おはようございます。 (Ohayō gozaimasu.) こんばんは。 (Konbanwa..) and おやすみなさい。 |
| (Oyasuminasai.) おはよう。 (ohayō.) means good morning and おはようございます。 (Ohayō gozaimasu.) is a more polite way to say it because ございます (gozaimasu) increases the politeness level of the phrase. As we learned, こんにちは。 (Konnichiwa.) is a general greeting that means hi or hello but it can also mean good afternoon. こんばんは、 (Konbanwa.) means good evening and usually people use it after sunset. おやすみなさい。 (Oyasuminasai.) is usually used before going to bed. This phrase comes from the verb やすむ。 (yasumu.) which means to take rest or to go to bed. お(o) is a prefix used to make a phrase polite. So this literally means please go to bed in a polite way. |
| So now, you learned all the basic greetings to use throughout the day. Let’s practice. おはようございます。 (Ohayō gozaimasu.) こんにちは。 (Konnichiwa.) こんばんは。 (Konbanwa.) おやすみなさい。 (Oyasuminasai.) |
| Now it’s time for Hiroko’s hint. When you want to say おはようございます。 (Ohayō gozaimasu.) or おやすみなさい。 (Oyasuminasai.) to your friends or family, you can say おはよう。 (Ohayō.) or おやすみ。 (Oyasumi.) |
Comments
Hideみなさん, What greeting would you use where you are right now? It's evening here in Tokyo, so こんばんは！:smile:
Cassieさん
コメントありがとうございます！
It's 15:30 in Tokyo, so... こんにちは😊
Please try and use おやすみなさい when you go to bed at night.
Thank you for learning Japanese with us:)
Sincerely,
Miho
Team JapanesePod101.com
It's morning here in Australia, so おはようございます 😄
I had learned the other responses in previous lessons, but just learned about おやすみなさい (Oyasuminasai). Very good to know.
Hossamさん
コメントありがとうございます😄
おやすみなさい😴
Please let us know if you have any questions :)
Sincerely
りょうま（Ryoma）
Team JapanesePod101.com
I'm now at night so おやすみなさい。
Vu Tranさん
Thank you so much for your kind comment😄
Happy to hear that!!
Please let us know if you have any questions :)
Sincerely
Ryoma
Team JapanesePod101.com
easy to understand!
Hi Judah,
Thank you very much for studying with us even at very late at night!
If you have any questions, please ask us in the comment section.
Sincerely,
Miki H
Team JapanesePod101.com
oyasumi nasai! (it's late at night in america)
HI Roy Mark,
Thank you for the comment and question.
It might be easier to pronounce the word Konbanwa, if you think it as Kon-Ban-Wa.
The second 'n' is not silent and shouldn't be different from the first 'n.'
Hope this helps.
Sincerely,
Miki H
Team JapanesePod101.com
Hey guys, I'm confused to the word Good Evening in Japanese which means Konbanwa... It's because of how to pronoune it properly. I'm confused if the 2nd "n" of konbanwa is silent? It's like a tounge-twister to me or more like it's hard for me to say it. Please help me guys.
Konnichiwa レクシー
Thank you for writing here.
>>こんにちはカナダから！Is this right?
It works but 「カナダからこんにちは」 is more natural in Japanese. 😉
Keep up the good study with JapanesePod101!
Cheers,
Sono
Team JapanesePod101.com
こんにちはカナダから！
Is this right?
Maxさん、
コメントをありがとうございます！
夜おそくまで、日本語勉強をしているのですね。これからも頑張ってください。
Hi George,
Thanks for asking the question!
People in Japan will also say "oyasumi" or "oyasuminasai" in the situation you've described (if you're done eating dinner with some friends and it's 8 o'clock at night and your parting ways).
Hi Shalisa,
Thanks for leaving a comment!
午後11時8分 is the correct way to write. 😄
Thanks for studying Japanese with us, everyone!
Sincerely,
Miki H
Team JapanesePod101.com
今は午後11時8日分です。おやすみなさい。😄
In America, if you're done eating dinner with some friends and it's 8 o'clock at night and your parting ways, you would say, "Good Night". If it's midnight and you're going to bed, you would say to your family, "Good night".
In Japanese, if you are at home and you are going to bed, you would say, "oyasumi".
BUT, what do you say in the first scenario when you are leaving the restaurant at 8 pm?
You're really not going to bed.
So do you still say, Oyasuminasai??
I can use こんばんは right now, but in a few hours it'll become おやすみ or おやすみなさい.
こんにちは、ルベンさん
コメントありがとうございます！
そうですか。朝ですね😄
Miki(美希)
Team JapanesePod101.com
今は午前8時10分です。おはようございます‼ 😄
こんばんは、Mennaさん
Thank you for the comment!
Are you in Egypt? Egypt is written as エジプト(Eziputo) in Japanese. It should be "エジプトは午後7時35分です。こんばんは！"👍
Keep studying with JapanesePod101.com
Cheers,
Miki(美希)
Team JapanesePod101.com
Oh, I made a mistake due to autocorrection: エギプトに午後7時35ふんです。 こんばは！