Learn the difference between the casual and more polite forms of the phrases
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| Remember in our previous lesson, we learned こんにちは。 (Konnichiwa) is a general greeting meaning hi or hello. In this lesson, we are going to learn more general greetings おはようございます。 (Ohayō gozaimasu.) こんばんは。 (Konbanwa..) and おやすみなさい。 |
| (Oyasuminasai.) おはよう。 (ohayō.) means good morning and おはようございます。 (Ohayō gozaimasu.) is a more polite way to say it because ございます (gozaimasu) increases the politeness level of the phrase. As we learned, こんにちは。 (Konnichiwa.) is a general greeting that means hi or hello but it can also mean good afternoon. こんばんは、 (Konbanwa.) means good evening and usually people use it after sunset. おやすみなさい。 (Oyasuminasai.) is usually used before going to bed. This phrase comes from the verb やすむ。 (yasumu.) which means to take rest or to go to bed. お(o) is a prefix used to make a phrase polite. So this literally means please go to bed in a polite way. |
| So now, you learned all the basic greetings to use throughout the day. Let’s practice. おはようございます。 (Ohayō gozaimasu.) こんにちは。 (Konnichiwa.) こんばんは。 (Konbanwa.) おやすみなさい。 (Oyasuminasai.) |
| Now it’s time for Hiroko’s hint. When you want to say おはようございます。 (Ohayō gozaimasu.) or おやすみなさい。 (Oyasuminasai.) to your friends or family, you can say おはよう。 (Ohayō.) or おやすみ。 (Oyasumi.) |
169 Comments
Hideみなさん, What greeting would you use where you are right now? It's evening here in Tokyo, so こんばんは！:smile:
Hossamさん
コメントありがとうございます😄
おやすみなさい😴
Please let us know if you have any questions :)
Sincerely
りょうま（Ryoma）
Team JapanesePod101.com
I'm now at night so おやすみなさい。
Vu Tranさん
Thank you so much for your kind comment😄
Happy to hear that!!
Please let us know if you have any questions :)
Sincerely
Ryoma
Team JapanesePod101.com
easy to understand!
Hi Judah,
Thank you very much for studying with us even at very late at night!
If you have any questions, please ask us in the comment section.
Sincerely,
Miki H
Team JapanesePod101.com
oyasumi nasai! (it's late at night in america)
HI Roy Mark,
Thank you for the comment and question.
It might be easier to pronounce the word Konbanwa, if you think it as Kon-Ban-Wa.
The second 'n' is not silent and shouldn't be different from the first 'n.'
Hope this helps.
Sincerely,
Miki H
Team JapanesePod101.com
Hey guys, I'm confused to the word Good Evening in Japanese which means Konbanwa... It's because of how to pronoune it properly. I'm confused if the 2nd "n" of konbanwa is silent? It's like a tounge-twister to me or more like it's hard for me to say it. Please help me guys.
Konnichiwa レクシー
Thank you for writing here.
>>こんにちはカナダから！Is this right?
It works but 「カナダからこんにちは」 is more natural in Japanese. 😉
Keep up the good study with JapanesePod101!
Cheers,
Sono
Team JapanesePod101.com
こんにちはカナダから！
Is this right?