Essential Japanese Greetings and Phrases for Beginners
A handful of greetings and set phrases will carry you through most first encounters in Japanese — and politeness level matters.
About the author
Luke McLaughlin created Constructing Language after living in Japan and later learning Mandarin Chinese from scratch. The lessons, games, and guides are built from that first-hand learner experience and checked against native-speaker course work with Hiro for Japanese and Xiang for Mandarin Chinese.
- Lived in Japan and studied Japanese through immersion and structured self-study.
- Learned Mandarin Chinese from scratch as an adult learner.
- Created the Construction Method: audio-first sentence building, grammar graphics, and active recall.
- Built Japanese course material with Hiro and Mandarin course material with Xiang, both native-speaker collaborators.
Start with the time-of-day greetings
Japanese greetings change with the time of day and the situation. Learning the core set first means you can open almost any conversation politely.
- おはようございます (ohayou gozaimasu) — good morning (polite).
- こんにちは (konnichiwa) — hello / good afternoon.
- こんばんは (konbanwa) — good evening.
- さようなら (sayounara) — goodbye (fairly formal).
Politeness is part of the phrase
Many Japanese phrases have casual and polite forms. As a beginner, default to the polite form (often ending in です/ます or adding ございます) with people you do not know well. It is rarely wrong to be a little more polite.
The everyday survival phrases
A small set of set phrases covers thanks, apologies, and getting attention — the situations beginners meet first.
- ありがとうございます (arigatou gozaimasu) — thank you (polite).
- すみません (sumimasen) — excuse me / sorry / to get attention.
- お願いします (onegaishimasu) — please (when requesting something).
- はい / いいえ (hai / iie) — yes / no.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you say hello in Japanese?
The most common all-purpose greeting is こんにちは (konnichiwa), used during the day. In the morning, use おはようございます (ohayou gozaimasu); in the evening, こんばんは (konbanwa).
What are the most important Japanese phrases for beginners?
Start with greetings (こんにちは), thanks (ありがとうございます), excuse me/sorry (すみません), please (お願いします), and yes/no (はい/いいえ). These cover most first interactions politely.
Should I use polite or casual Japanese as a beginner?
Default to the polite forms (です/ます, ございます) with people you don't know well. Being slightly more polite is rarely wrong, while being too casual can come across as rude.