Guild Wars: EPoS Forums: Guild Wars: EPoS Forums -> Japanese Lesson 2 - Greetings and Particles

Now, advancing from numbers, I will teach you how to greet someone. I will show you how to greet someone you have just met to someone you see regularly like a friend. Now, on to the vocabulary.



Now for some particles.




When you first meet someone, you would use the word 'Hajimemashite' which literally means 'Hello for the first time'. When pronounced, you do not say the 'i' in 'shi', so you say it as 'Hajimemashte'. When you say your name, you would use formal language to someone you have never met before. This would be an appropriate sentence to introduce yourself (Substitute the underline with your name, I will show you have to translate your name into Japanese in another lesson):

はじめまして、私(わたし)の名(な)前(まえ)は______。
Hajimemashite, Watashi-no Namae-wa ______.
Hello (How do you do), My name is ______.

Another phrase to add to make your sentence even more polite, which is generally added in any language is 'Pleased to meet you', which in Japanese is Dōzo Yoroshiku. If you add that you now, you get:

はじめまして、私(わたし)の名(な)前(まえ)は______。どうぞよろしく。
Hajimemashite, Watashi-no Namae-wa ______. Dōzo yoroshiku.
Hello (How do you do), My name is ______. Pleased to meet you.

Normally when you talk to someone, especially when you have only just met them, you add their name after you greet them. In this lesson, we will use the name Hiroto Tanaka. In Japan, they had what is known as an honourific to the end of a person's name. They have no Kanji, so are written in Kana. Here are a few common honourifics.



Now back to the main lesson, now, when you add Hiroto Tanaka's name, you do not add his first name. This is because in Japanese, your last or family name is the most important, then your first name, then your title. After that , we will add the honourific -san. If you know that the person is of a higher social status, use -sama, if it is a teacher, use -sensei. This is what we get.

はじめまして田(た)中(なか)さん、私(わたし)の名(な)前(まえ)は______。どうぞよろしく。
Hajimemashite Tanaka-san, Watashi-no Namae-wa ______. Dōzo yoroshiku.
Hello (How do you do) Mr. Tanaka, My name is ______. Pleased to meet you.

This is the basic greeting to someone you have never met. Now, you need to know how to greet people you have met before, but formally.

When you greet someone in Japanese formally, you state the period of day, then their name or vice versa. Then you will state 'How are you?'. To ask someone how they are, you use the following phrase: 'O-genki desu-ka'. Remember with words that end in 'su' you do not pronounce the 'u', this goes for words like 'desu' and 'arimasu'.Here is a basic sentence.

こんにちは田(た)中(なか)さん。お元(げん)気(き)ですか。
Konnichi-wa Tanaka-san. O-genki desu-ka.
Good Afternoon Mr. Tanaka. How are you?

Or if you would prefer to use the extremely polite version:

こんいちは田(た)中(なか)さん。お元(げん)気(き)でお過(すご)しでしょうか。
Konnichi-wa Tanaka-san. O-genki de o-sugoshi deshō-ka.
Good Afternoon Mr. Tanaka. How are you?

If someone asks you how you are feeling, you just say the same phrase to ask how you are, but drop the -ka. It is also customary to thank the person for asking if you a feeling fine, to say 'Thank you' you use 'Arigatō gozaimasu'. For example, here is Tanaka's response:

ああ、______さん、お元(げん)気(き)です、ありがとうございます。______は
Aa, ______-san, o-genki desu, arigatō gozaimasu. ______-wa
Ah, Mr./Mrs. ______, I'm fine, thank you. You?

There are words for 'You' in Japanese, but they are generally used in informal language. If you notice, instead of -ka, -wa is used to ask 'You?', this is because they are saying your name, then making it the main part of the sentence, therefore, the particle- ka is not needed. Now, when replying, you could just repeat 'O-genki desu', or you could use an even better response, this is it:

私も元(げん)気(き)です、ありがとうございます
Watashi-mo genki desu, arigatō gozaimasu.
I am also fine, thank you.

Now, for saying goodbye.

When you say goodbye, you would use the formal 'Sayōnara' then the person's name and honourific if you want. If you wish to say goodbye informally, say to a friend or someone you know well, you can use the following.

じゃまたね
Ja Mata Ne
See you later

じゃまた
Ja Mata
Later

じゃね
Ja ne
See you

じゃ
Ja
Bye

When talking to a friend, you can be more informal. All you have to do is state the time of day then the person's name and honourific, their name and honourific then the time of day.

For example:

田(た)中(なか)さん、おはよう
Tanaka-san, Ohayō.
Mr. Tanaka, Morning.

おはよう、田(た)中(なか)さん
Ohayō, Tanaka-san
Morning, Mr. Tanaka

That is all you really need to know for now without going too in-depth. I will set a small test in the next lesson for you to test how you have been doing so far. Until next time, Ja ne!