Greetings and introducing yourself: 〜は〜です

Good greetings make a strong first impression at school, at a job interview or on your first day at work in Japan. In this lesson you learn the greetings people use every day, a simple self-introduction, and the four grammar patterns you need for it. You will also meet your first kanji.

Everyday greetings

• おはようございます (ohayō gozaimasu) — good morning. With friends and family the short おはよう is fine.
• こんにちは (konnichiwa) — hello, good afternoon. Used from late morning until early evening.
• こんばんは (konbanwa) — good evening.
• ありがとうございます (arigatō gozaimasu) — thank you (polite).
• すみません (sumimasen) — excuse me; sorry. Also used to get someone’s attention in a shop or restaurant.
• さようなら (sayōnara) — goodbye. It sounds quite final and is rarely used at work (see below).

In こんにちは and こんばんは the last は is read wa, just like the particle は.

Leaving work: お先さきに失礼しつれいします and おつかれさまでした

At work, people do not say さようなら when they go home. Two set phrases are used instead:

• When you leave before your colleagues, say お先さきに失礼しつれいします (osaki ni shitsurei shimasu) — literally “excuse me for leaving first”. Bow slightly as you say it.
• To a colleague who is leaving — and to everyone at the end of the working day — say おつかれさまでした (otsukaresama deshita), “thank you for your hard work”. It is also the usual reply to お先さきに失礼しつれいします.

A typical exchange: you stand up to leave and say お先さきに失礼しつれいします; your colleagues answer おつかれさまでした. During the day, おつかれさまです (present tense) is also used as a friendly greeting between colleagues.

A simple self-introduction

A Japanese self-introduction (じこしょうかい, jiko shōkai) is short and follows a fixed pattern:

Japanese	Romaji	English
はじめまして。	Hajimemashite.	Nice to meet you. (first meeting only)
アニルです。	Aniru desu.	I am Anil.
インドからきました。	Indo kara kimashita.	I come from India.
学生がくせいです。	Gakusei desu.	I am a student.
よろしくおねがいします。	Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.	I look forward to working with you. / Please treat me well.

Notice that わたしは (“I”) is left out: when it is clear who you are talking about, Japanese drops it. Bow slightly when you say はじめまして and よろしくおねがいします.

Names and 〜さん

Add さん (-san) after other people’s names: マリアさん, やまださん. It works for men and women, first names and family names. Never use さん with your own name. Japanese people often use the person’s name with さん where English would say “you”. Teachers are called 先生せんせい instead of さん.

Your first kanji

From this lesson on, common words are written with kanji, with the reading shown above them (furigana) or in the vocabulary list. This lesson introduces six: 日 (day, sun), 本 (book, origin), 人 (person), 学 (study), 生 (life, birth) and 先 (ahead). Together they make words you will use every day: 日本にほん (Japan), 日本人にほんじん (Japanese person), 学生がくせい (student) and 先生せんせい (teacher). Their readings, stroke counts and examples are in the Kanji section below.

Common mistakes

• Using さん with your own name: say アニルです, not アニルさんです.
• Starting every sentence with わたしは. Once the topic is clear, leave it out.
• Reading the particle は as ha. In わたしは it is wa.
• Using はじめまして with someone you have met before. It is only for the first meeting.
• Answering a question with only はい or いいえ. Add the full answer: はい、学生がくせいです.

How to practise

• Write your own self-introduction with the five lines above and say it aloud until you can do it without reading.
• Practise the greetings at the right time of day — even to yourself.
• Learn the six kanji with the worksheet: trace, then write each one from memory.
• Take the quiz, then cover the English in the grammar examples and translate them yourself.