Language/Japanese/Vocabulary/Greetings

TO SAY HELLO AND INDICATE THE MOMENT OF THE DAY

Japanese cut the day in three parts and each has a manner to say.

Ohayougozaimasu

おはようございます

御早うございます。

This expression is made by

御	(お) O	honorific prefixe
早 (早(く))	haya(ku)	early
ございます	Gozaimasu	polite suffix

This is used the morning, to say hello, from 5 A.M to 12 A.M

Then, from 12 A.M use :

Konnichiwa (こんにちは) commonly written with hiragana, the basic alphabet to write japanese words. The form in kanji (今日は) is more employed to say approximately "This day..." and it sounds ; KYOU WA (

At night, from about 6 PM (japanese have dinner really early) you can say :

Konbanwa (こんばんは) As for konnichiwa, there is a form in kanji (今晩は). "This night..."but contrary to Konnichiwa, it really sounds konbanwa.Take a look to the kanjis

今 : This kanji read alone is IMA いま. It means NOW.

日 : This one is NICHIにち. The meaning of this is DAY

晩 : The last is BANばん. The kanji for EVENING / NIGHT

Oyasuminasai

おやすみなさい お休みなさい。

Have a good night.

お valorating prefix

休み(やすみ) : holiday / resting 為さい(なさい) a verbal form of saying "to do"

Ohisashiburi (おひさしぶり)お久し振り Long time no see.

Hisashi(i) (久さし(い)) ひさしい : indicate a long period of time. Buri(振り)ぶり is a time mark.

In fact, this expression is really turning around a time reference!!

GREETING WITHOUT TIME INFLUENCE

Sayonara (さよなら) Simply means bye. Bai-Bai : Bye-Bye (バイバイ) : The english-like form. Matane (またね) mata means « again », ne is a particle to sustain your idea, So, we can say it is : See you again.

When you welcome someone who is not from the place you are, you should use

Youkosoようこそ. It means WELCOME! For example if your friends is coming from another country to yours (japanese friend to France)

フランスへようこそ。Furansu he yokoso. へ (he) is the location particle.

GREETING TO WISH SOMETHING TO SOMEONE

• Yoroshiku onegaishimasu (よろしくおねがいします) 宜しくお願いします。: Please to meet you

• 宜しく (よろしく)YORO SHIKU : Best regards
• お(お)O 願い(ねが(い)NEGA( I): A useful sentence to express a wish
• します(します)SHIMASU : Polite and affirmative form of the verb
• する SURU  : TO DO, commonly used.

• Yahoo ヤッホー/ Ooiオオイ  : HEY! Particulary employed by teenagers.

• Genki desu ka? (げんきですか) 元気ですか。 : How are you doing?

• GEN(元) げん: origin
• KI(気) き: spirit
• DESU/です: (to be)
• KA / か: particle for question.

• Ganbatte (頑張って)がんばって : It is a greeting to give some force, some courage to someone. The way to persevere.

• GAN(頑) がん approximately means to extend
• BA(張) ば could be translate as hustle
• TTEって : This is a kind of imperative form.

It comes from the verb : ganbaru (頑張る)がんばる

• Omedetou(gozaimasu) (おめでとう(ございます)): Congratulations!
• Arigatou(gozaimasu) (ありとう(ございます)): Thank you(very much)

In Japan, we use some expressions that have no equal in french and probably not in any other else language in the world.

• Otsukaresama (お疲れ様)おつかれさま: It is employed when people ends a hard working day. It means something like : thank you for doing your best at work.

• Tsukare(ru) (疲れ(る))つかれ(る): the verb to express the sensation of tiredness.

• Sama (様)さま: A very honorific suffix

The Japanese really like using prefixes and suffixes according to the social status, the age and the gender.

• Tadaima!(只今)ただいま Litt. “I’m home”. You will use this one, when you open the door and there is someone inside.
• Okaeri(nasai) お帰りなさいおかえりなさい This one works with the previous. The people inside will answer Okaeri to Tadaima.
• 帰 is the kanji of the verb KAERU(帰る)かえる which indicated that you are coming back.
• Itterasshai (行ってらっしゃい)いってらっしゃい: "Have a good day", particulary when you are going to move (for example to work) and somebody support you.
• ITTE 行って(いって) is the imperative form of the verb IKU行くいく: TO GO
• Rasshai (らっしゃい) : Is a mark of moving comes from honorific language.

• Ki o tsukete (気を付けて)きをつけて: Take care of you (When you are going somewhere). This includes that you have to move
• Tsukeru(付け(る))つける in its TE(て) form which really includes the notion of concern/care by the people who say it.

So, if you are going to work and your wife / husband is going staying at home, he/she can say :

• Itterasshai, ki wo tsukete. Oshigoto ganbatte kudasai. 行ってらっしゃい、気を付けて。お仕事頑張って下さい

TWO MORE WORDS

Gozaimasu and Kudasai. As you can read before some words or sentence use gozaimasu. Like : Ohayougozaimasu, arigatougozaimasu, omedetougowazaimasu. Gozaimasu simply means ;”There is” when it’s combined with a greeting. You can also consider it means “to exist”. For example “ARIGATOUGOZAIMASU” ; “it exist some thanks”. It is not very correct translation but it is the idea.

Some other are built with kudasai. Kudasai is a form of the verb kudasaru which means “to confer”

Authors

BriceJ

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