Learn how to meet new people and say hello to friends and acquaintances in polite Japanese
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.
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.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| Is Mastering Basic Japanese greetings really this easy? Yep, you will learn a few tips to master basic Japanese greetings fast with this introduction lesson. In this lesson, you are going to learn how to say hi, how are you in Japanese and how to answer. It’s super easy and it only takes 3 minutes. Let’s learn a short dialogue. |
| So here is the typical conversation you hear every day in Japan. こんにちは。 (Konnichiwa.) Hi げんきですか。 (Genki desu ka.) how are you げんきです。 (Genki desu.) I am fine. こんにちは。 (Konnichiwa.) Hi or hello. こ、ん、に、ち、は。 (Ko, n, ni, chi, wa.) こんにちは (konnichiwa). こんにちは (konnichiwa) is a general greeting meaning hi or hello. It also means good afternoon as one of the greetings for the day but you can say こんにちは。 (Konnichiwa.) all day long as a greeting when you meet people. |
| Next we have げんきですか。 (Genki desu ka.) how are you. Let’s take a closer look げんきですか。 (Genki desu ka.) how are you げ、ん、き、で、す、か。 (Ge, n, ki, de, su, ka.) げんきですか。 (Genki desu ka.). げんき (genki) means healthy です (desu) is basically same meaning as to be in English, か is a sentence ending particle that can be used to make a question げんきですか。 (genkidesu ka.) literally means are you healthy but it is used to mean how are you. |
| Now the easy part, answering the question. To answer the question げんきですか。 (Genki desu ka.) how are you, you just say げんきです。 (Genki desu.) I am fine. You just have to drop the か(ka) at the end. げんきです。 (Genki desu.) I am fine げ、ん、き、で、す。 (ge, n, ki, de, su.) げんきです。 (Genki desu.) Let’s take a look at these two lines. Person A, げんきですか。 (Genki desu ka.) how are you. Person B, げんきです。 (Genki desu.) I am fine. The only difference is, you drop the か(ka) when answering the question. |
| See this conversation. We are going to shorten it down. Ta-dah! (Ta-dah!) Here we have the same conversation げんき？ (Genki?) how are you げんき。 (Genki.) I am fine. The only difference is the intonation げんき？ (Genki?) げんき。 (Genki.) I am fine げんき？ (Genki?) げんき。 (Genki.) Now be careful. This is a very informal conversation. Don’t use it with your teachers or in business situations. |
| Now before you go, let’s look at two other responses to how are you. First we have まあまあ。 (Māmā.) so so. さいあく。 (Saiaku.) Bad or I am not doing good at all. So now let’s practice. So I will ask you how you are and you respond こんにちは、げんきですか。 (Konnichiwa, genki desu ka.) げんきです。 (Genki desu.) Good job. Now, you ask me how are you げんきです。 (Genki desu.) まあまあです。 (Māmā desu.) さいあくです。 (Saiaku desu.) |
| げんきですかー！ (Genki desu kā!) げんきがあれば、なんでもできる。 (Genki ga areba, nandemo dekiru.) げんきですかー！ (Genki desu kā!) |
350 Comments
Hideみなさん、 げんきですか (Genki desu ka)？:smile: Please answer back!
Hi Tanmayi,
Thank you for your comment!
We are very happy to know you enjoy our lesson😊
Please let us know if you have any question:)
Sincerely,
Miho
Team JapanesePod101.com
げんきですか😄
HIROKO NAKAMURA 😎
TEACH JAPANESE GOOD😎
GOOD TEACHER!!
Hi Claudia,
Thank you for posting!
Yes, your idea is totally correct👍
So we usually don't say げんきですか as an everyday greeting,
but rather we say it to someone we haven't seen for a while.
Hope you enjoy learning Japanese with us:)
Sincerely,
Miho
Team JapanesePod101.com
こんにちは。
A: げんです。げんきすかあ。
Am I correct in thinking that:
1. In Japan it is polite to answer that question, as opposed to America, where people sometimes don’t reply to “how are you”?
2. The reason for this is that in Japanese the question is a genuine inquiry about your wellness.
3. This expression is used in a less casual manner in Japan.
ありいがとございます｡
こんにちは Vet,
Thank you so much for your positive message! 😇❤️️
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
We wish you good luck with your language studies.
Kind regards,
レヴェンテ (Levente)
Team JapanesePod101.com
I'm excited to learn.
Thank you.
Deivさん
Thank you so much for your comment😄
Please let us know if you have any questions :)
Sincerely
Ryoma
Team JapanesePod101.com
I love the ending to this video. I hope Hiroko is doing well in this chapter of her life.
こんにちは Tanya,
コメントありがとうございます。Thank you for your comment. 😇
Let us know if you have any questions! 😉
Wishing you good luck with your Japanese,
レヴェンテ (Levente)
Team JapanesePod101.com
It is a great lesson👍 Thank you so much!!!