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Greetings & Expressions

Greetings

Greetings are very important in Japanese. Both greeting and parting phrases are called aisatsu. Someone who makes no aisatsu may be seen as cold and dysfunctional. These aren't all the aisatsu out there, but they'll give you a good start.


Good morning. (Hi.) Ohayou gozaimasu.
Good afternoon. (Hi.) Konnichi wa.
Good evening. (Hi.) Konban wa.
Good night. (Said before bedtime.) Oyasuminasai. (Lit. Have a good rest.)
It's been a long time. Ohisashiburi desu.
How do you do? (Said when meeting someone for the first time.) Hajimemashite.
It's nice to meet you. Douzo yoroshiku onegaishimasu.
Are you well? Ogenki desu ka.
Yes, I'm fine. Hai, genki desu.
Goodbye. Sayounara./Sayonara. (Sayonara is not normally used when leaving one's own home unless one is leaving for a very long time.)



Expressions

The Japanese counting system is too complex to explain here in full. Given below are the cardinal numbers, which are combined with various counters to count objects or people. For example, otoko san-nin means three men, hon san-satsu means three books and san-ji means three o'clock. There is also a set of numbers, from one to ten, for counting objects without using counters.
 
 Japanese names and words in a way that I hope is most easily understood by non-Japanese speakers. It is dificult to be consistent to any standard system without having an explanatory note of Japanese pronunciation on every page.

To know about japanese food, numbers, habitat expressions click here