Let’s learn 20 Basic Japanese Phrases today!

They are very useful expressions when you speak Japanese.

Please listen to the audio I have recorded so you can practice them.

Study tips:
You can print out the list and stick to your wall. 🖨
Keep some notes on your Japanese notebook while studying here.📝

Tanoshinde ne!(楽しんでね!) Have fun!

1. おはよう。Ohayou. Good morning. (casual)

You can use this phrase early in the morning until about 11 am.

It is rather casual, so use it when you are with your friends! ☀️

2. おはようございます。Ohayou gozaimasu. Good morning. (polite)

It’s a bit long phrase to say but you will hear it in Japan very often!

Pronounce the last masu like mas here, not masu!

The literal meaning is ’It is early’.

You can see an adjective hayai which means early.

Gozaimasu comes from the polite Japanese word for there is and it is. (we will discuss Japanese honorific expressions another time, so don’t worry!) ☀️

3. こんにちは。 Konnichiwa. Hello.

I’d say this is the most useful greeting you will learn today, have you heard of this expression before?

I use it as ‘Hello’ even if it’s an afternoon, you will hear us saying until around 17-18 pm, it sounds casual and polite at the same time, very useful greeting 🌤

4. こんばんは。 Konbanwa. Good evening.

You will hear this greeting from around 18 pm until 23 pm.🌙

Konban means ‘tonight’ in Japanese. It is a very useful word so you should write it down!

5. はじめまして。 Hajimemashite. Nice to meet you.

You will use it when you meet a Japanese person for the first time.

Very impressive if you can say this phrase when you’ve been introduced!

6. 元気(げんき)ですか。 Genki desu ka? How are you?

Genki means being full of energy, being totally energetic, and healthy.

Desu is an English version of ‘be/am/are/is/’, the good news is desu doesn’t conjugate according to the subject🎉

Ka(か) at the end is known as a question particle, that you can put at the end of a sentence to make it a question.
This Ka(か) as a question particle is one of the things you will learn in the first Japanese lessons, so note it down✏️

You can say des rather than desu.

If you start with O sound at the beginning, it can sound politer, as O-genki desu ka?

7. 元気(げんき)です。 Genki desu. I’m fine.

You can simply say this as an answer to question 6 above, Genki desu ka?
Again, be careful with the desu(です) sound, it sounds actually des(です).

8. はい。/ いいえ。 Hai. / Iie. Yes. / No.

They are so simple to pronounce, yet iie(いいえ) seems to be a bit tough for some of you to pronounce!

The key to pronounce iie is.. to make it sound slightly melodious with a nasal voice! 🎶👃🏻

9. ありがとう。 Arigatou. Thank you.

You are familiar with this expression, right?

It’s one of my favorite expressions in Japanese.

The trick is the RI(り) sound, you will pitch the ri sound higher.

Try not to put an intonation on ga(が) it will sounds odd!

The meaning of arigatou comes from Japanese adjective Arigatashi(有難し), which means ‘difficult to have, difficult to exist’. Originally it meant ‘seldom’ and ‘being rare and precious’. 🙏🏻