Basic Japanese #4: Japanese Manners (1)

Learn about the Japanese phrases for "I'm sorry," and "Thank you"

Dialogue

Want to Understand & Master the Japanese Dialogue 100%?

Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.

Select your level

Or sign up using Facebook

By clicking Join Now, you agree to our Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and to receive our email communications, which you may opt out at any time.

Already a Member?

Vocabulary (Review)

Learn New Words FAST with this Lesson’s Vocab Review List

Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.

Select your level

Or sign up using Facebook

By clicking Join Now, you agree to our Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and to receive our email communications, which you may opt out at any time.

Already a Member?

Lesson Notes

Unlock In-Depth Explanations & Exclusive Takeaways with Printable Lesson Notes

Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.

Select your level

Or sign up using Facebook

By clicking Join Now, you agree to our Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and to receive our email communications, which you may opt out at any time.

Already a Member?

Lesson Transcript

How much do manners matter in Japan? Manners are everything and in this lesson, you will master several polite Japanese phrases. You are going to learn how to say thank you and I am sorry in Japanese and you will learn these phrases and more in three minutes.

So here are the three phrases? First we have ありがとうございます。 (Arigatõ gozaimasu.) thank you. Next we have すみません。 (Sumimasen.) excuse me. Here we have ごめんなさい。 (Gomen'nasai.) I am sorry.

So ありがとう。 (Arigatō) is a well known expression meaning thank you but there are more variations depending on the politeness level. First we have ありがとうございます。 (Arigatõ gozaimasu.) thank you あ、り、が、と、う、ご、ざ、い、ま、す。 (A, ri, ga, to, u, go, za, i, ma, su.) ありがとうございます。 (Arigatõ gozaimasu.) ございます (gozaimasu) increases the politeness level of the phrase.

Next we have すみません。 (Sumimasen.) I am sorry or excuse me. す、み、ま、せ、ん。 (Su, mi, ma, se, n.) すみません。 (Sumimasen.)

And the final phrase is ごめんなさい。 (Gomen'nasai.) I am sorry. ご、め、ん、な、さ、い。 (Go, me, n, na, sa, i.) ごめんなさい。 (Gomen'nasai.) So ごめんなさい。 (Gomen'nasai.) is a way to say I am sorry. So to review, here we have ありがとうございます。 (Arigatõ gozaimasu.) thank you. すみません。 (Sumimasen.) excuse me or I am sorry. ごめんなさい。 (Gomen'nasai.) I am sorry.

Time for Hiroko’s hints. See these phrases? Let’s shorten them. Ta-dah. First we have どうも。 (Dōmo.) thanks. Next we have ごめん。 (gomen.) sorry. Now be careful. These are informal phrases. So don’t use them with your teachers or in a business situation.

So どうも。 (Dōmo.) is short for どうもありがとう。 (Dōmo arigatō) and ごめん。 (gomen.) is short for ごめんなさい。 (Gomen'nasai.)

Let’s practice. First we have ありがとうございます。 (Arigatõ gozaimasu.) Next we have ありがとう。 (Arigatō) and finally we have どうも。 (Dōmo.) すみません。 (Sumimasen.) すみません。 (Sumimasen.) ごめんなさい。 (Gomen'nasai.) ごめん。 (gomen.)

Comments

Hide