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Lesson 4: Essential Greetings

Why This Lesson

Japan is a greeting culture. Using the right greeting at the right time signals respect and basic competence. A wrong greeting (or none at all) creates immediate social friction. These 6 phrases will carry you through 90% of first encounters.

Goal

Use the correct Japanese greeting for morning, afternoon, evening, thanking, apologizing, and meeting someone new.

What You Gain

After finishing, you can greet anyone appropriately at any time of day and handle basic social niceties (thank you, excuse me, nice to meet you) in Japanese.

6 Essential Japanese Greetings

Each phrase has a specific social context. Listen to the native pronunciation and learn when to use each one.

おはよう ohayou Good morning (casual)
こんにちは konnichiwa Good afternoon / Hello
こんばんは konbanwa Good evening
ありがとう arigatou Thank you
すみません sumimasen Excuse me / Sorry
はじめまして hajimemashite Nice to meet you

Practice: When Would You Say...?

Choose the correct greeting for each situation.

1. You meet someone at 8 AM. Which greeting?
おはよう (ohayou)
こんにちは (konnichiwa)
こんばんは (konbanwa)
すみません (sumimasen)
2. A stranger holds the door for you. You say:
おはよう (ohayou)
ありがとう (arigatou)
はじめまして (hajimemashite)
こんにちは (konnichiwa)
3. You arrive at a dinner party at 7 PM. You say:
こんにちは (konnichiwa)
おはよう (ohayou)
こんばんは (konbanwa)
ありがとう (arigatou)
4. You meet a new colleague for the first time. You say:
すみません (sumimasen)
ありがとう (arigatou)
こんにちは (konnichiwa)
はじめまして (hajimemashite)
5. You accidentally bump into someone. You say:
ありがとう (arigatou)
すみません (sumimasen)
おはよう (ohayou)
はじめまして (hajimemashite)
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