Japanese Greetings: The Phrases You Actually Need First

Why greetings are the right place to start

Greetings are the right place to start because they are high-frequency, need almost no grammar, and you can use them correctly on your first day. Every other part of the language asks you to build something: conjugate a verb, choose a particle, hold a sentence together. A greeting asks none of that. It is a small, complete unit that does its whole job the moment you say it.

That makes greetings the calmest possible on-ramp. You are not waiting until you are good enough to speak. You walk into a shop, say the right phrase for the time of day, and you have already used Japanese the way it is actually used. There is real momentum in that, and none of the pressure that comes with trying to form full sentences before you are ready.

There is a second reason, quieter but just as useful. Greetings are where the texture of Japanese first shows up: the gap between casual and polite, the little paired phrases people say to each other coming and going, the words that carry feeling more than literal meaning. Learn the greetings well and you have already met, in miniature, most of what makes the language feel different from English. The handful of phrases below are the ones worth learning first, grouped by when you will reach for them.

Good morning, hello, good evening

The time-of-day greetings are the first set to learn, because you will use one of them in almost every conversation you start. Japanese splits the day more clearly than English does: there is a morning greeting, a daytime greeting, and an evening greeting, plus a phrase for going to bed. Each has a polite full form and a shorter casual form.

A few notes that will save you confusion later. こんにちは (konnichiwa) is written with は at the end, but you pronounce it wa, because that は is the old topic particle rather than the usual ha sound. The same thing happens with こんばんは (konbanwa). It looks like a spelling mistake the first time you see it, and it is not. Just remember those two words end in a は you read as wa.

おやすみなさい (oyasuminasai) is not a general evening greeting; it is what you say before sleeping, closer to "good night, rest well" than "good evening." Keep it for the end of the day. And as with the rest of this set, the longer form is the safe one with anyone, while おはよう (ohayou) and おやすみ (oyasumi) are for people you are close to.

Meeting someone for the first time

When you meet someone for the first time, two phrases work as a pair: はじめまして (hajimemashite) to open, and よろしくおねがいします (yoroshiku onegaishimasu) to close. Together they cover the whole introduction, so it is worth learning them as a single move rather than two separate words.

はじめまして (hajimemashite) is what you say right at the start of a first meeting, before you have really said anything else. Then, after you have given your name, you close with よろしくおねがいします (yoroshiku onegaishimasu). That second phrase is hard to translate cleanly. It lands somewhere around "please treat me well" or "I look forward to working with you," and it carries a sense of goodwill toward whatever you are about to do together. You will hear it constantly, not only at introductions but whenever people begin something as a group. Do not worry about pinning down one exact English meaning; learn it as the set phrase that warms the end of an introduction.

おげんきですか (ogenki desu ka) means "how are you?", but here is the honest part: it is not used the way English uses it. In English, "how are you" is constant filler that barely expects an answer. In Japanese, おげんきですか (ogenki desu ka) is more genuine and more occasional, the kind of thing you ask someone you have not seen in a while. It is not the every-time opener you might expect. Reach for the time-of-day greeting first, and save this one for when you actually mean it.

Thank you, excuse me, and the one word that does both

The two courtesies you will use most are ありがとうございます (arigatou gozaimasu) for thank you and すみません (sumimasen), which quietly does several jobs at once. If you learn only these, you can already be polite in most everyday situations.

すみません (sumimasen) is one of the most useful words in the whole language because it does triple duty. It is "excuse me" when you need to get someone's attention or move past them. It is "sorry" for a small mistake. And it is a soft "thank you" when someone has gone slightly out of their way for you, with a shade of "sorry to trouble you" folded in. That third use surprises a lot of learners: someone hands you something you dropped, and the natural response is すみません (sumimasen), not because you did anything wrong, but to acknowledge the small kindness. When in doubt about which it means, listen to the situation rather than the word.

すみません (sumimasen) and ごめんなさい (gomen nasai) both cover apologies, but they are not interchangeable. ごめんなさい (gomen nasai) is purely "I am sorry," more personal and a bit softer, the kind of apology you give a friend or family member. すみません (sumimasen) is the more neutral, more widely usable choice, and it stretches to cover "excuse me" and the soft thank-you in ways ごめんなさい (gomen nasai) does not. As a simple rule: if you only want to apologize and you are close to the person, ごめんなさい (gomen nasai) fits; if you want one flexible word for daily life, すみません (sumimasen) is the one to lean on.

Coming, going, and the home phrases

Japanese has small paired phrases for leaving and returning that English simply does not, and they are some of the most charming things to learn early. They come in call-and-response pairs: one person says the going-out phrase, the other answers.

The home phrases work as two pairs. When you head out, you say いってきます (ittekimasu), which carries the meaning "I am leaving and will come back," and the person staying answers いってらっしゃい (itterasshai). When you return, you announce ただいま (tadaima), "I am home," and you are met with おかえりなさい (okaerinasai), "welcome home." There is something warm in the fact that the language builds these little exchanges into ordinary days. You will hear them in homes and, in softer forms, in workplaces too.

A word of caution about さようなら (sayounara). Learners often pick it up as the default "goodbye," but it is heavier than that. さようなら (sayounara) is a firm or long parting, the kind you would not use lightly between people who will see each other again soon. Said to a friend you will meet tomorrow, it can sound oddly final. For everyday partings, じゃあね (jaa ne), "see you," is the casual phrase you actually want. Save さようなら (sayounara) for the genuine goodbyes.

Before and after meals

Two phrases bracket a meal in Japanese: いただきます (itadakimasu) before you eat and ごちそうさまでした (gochisousama deshita) after. They are simple to say and worth knowing early, because they come up every single time food is on the table.

いただきます (itadakimasu) is said just before you start eating. It is an expression of gratitude for the meal, a small pause to acknowledge the food in front of you before the first bite. ごちそうさまでした (gochisousama deshita) closes the meal and thanks whoever provided or prepared it. You can say it to the cook, to a host, or to the staff as you leave a restaurant. Neither phrase needs grammar around it; you simply say the words at the right moment, and they do their work.

Casual vs polite, and how to not get it wrong

The simplest way to stay safe is this: the longer forms, the ones ending in gozaimasu or nasai, are polite and work with anyone, while the short forms are for friends and family. When in doubt, use the polite form. You will never give offense by being a little too polite, and that one habit removes most of the worry.

You have already seen the pattern across this whole list. おはようございます (ohayou gozaimasu) is the polite morning greeting; おはよう (ohayou) is the casual one. ありがとうございます (arigatou gozaimasu) is the polite thank you; ありがとう (arigatou) is the casual thanks. おやすみなさい (oyasuminasai) is the fuller good night; おやすみ (oyasumi) is the short version. Once you notice it, the longer ending is doing the politeness, and dropping it is what makes a phrase casual.

So the mental model is small and forgiving. With strangers, shopkeepers, coworkers, and anyone older or senior, reach for the long polite form. With close friends and family, the short forms feel natural and warm; using the polite form there is not wrong, just a touch formal. The mistake learners actually worry about, being accidentally rude, almost never happens when you default to polite. The only thing to watch is the reverse: being too casual too soon with someone you do not know well.

None of this needs to be memorized as a rule sheet. A handful of repetitions, spaced out over a few days, is enough for these phrases to stick, because they are short and you meet them in real situations. If you want that spacing handled for you, a calm flashcard app like Inku uses spaced repetition and comes with bundled audio for phrases like these, so you can hear おはようございます (ohayou gozaimasu) and こんばんは (konbanwa) said aloud while you review. But the phrases themselves are the point. Learn this set well, use them on day one, and you will already sound like someone who is genuinely beginning to speak Japanese.

Common questions

Related reading

• Learn hiragana, the script greetings are written in
• Moshi moshi, the telephone greeting
• JLPT N5 vocabulary list
• Essential Japanese phrases
• N5 family vocabulary

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