Learn Basic Japanese Greetings and Vocabulary

Greetings in Japanese.

Greetings in japanese language are either 'formal' or 'friendly'. Talking in 'friendly' version of language in formal cases are not considered good. Though the vice versa is not true. Formal japanese can be used in friendly cases. Given below are all formal japanese language.

Greeting in English Greeting in Romaji Greeting in Hiragana

Hello

KONNICHIWA

Good Morning

OHAYOUGOZAIMAS

Good Afternoon.

KONNICHIWA.

Good Night.

OYASUMINASAI.

Good Bye.

SAYOUNARA.

Thank You.

ARIGATOUGOZAIMAS.

How are you doing?

GENKIDESUKA?

I am fine.Thank you.

GENKIDESU.

I am hungry.

ONAKA GA SUKIMASHITA.

Introduction in Japanese

English Romaji Hiragana

How do you?

HAJIMEMASHITE.

What is your name?

ONAMAEWA.

My name is Katsumi.

WATASHI WA KATSUMI TO IIMAS.

Relationshp in Japanese
English Romaji Hiragana

Wife

TSUMA.

Husband

OTTO.

Son

MUSUKO.

Daughter

MUSUME.

Girl-friend/Boy-friend.

KOIBITO.

Japanese Vocabulary

This lessons gives you some basic japanese vocabulary with some examples.
kon'nichi wa hello
watashi I, me, myself
desu am, are, is
anata You
Amerika-jin American (person)
Nihon-jin Japanese (person)
daigaku-sei college student
kookoo-sei high school student
Kon'nichi wa. Hello
Watashi wa Morita Akio desu. I am Akio Morita
Hajimemashite. Nice to meet you.
Anata wa Amerika-jin desu ka. Are you an American?
Nihon-jin desu. I am Japanese.
Anata wa daigaku-sei desu ka. Are you a college student?
Watashi wa kookoo-sei desu. I am a high school student.

Basic Japanese Grammer

This japanese grammer lesson will give you details Japanese language, and begin to teach how exactly to formulate phrases and sentences to convey more complex ideas.
The main particles in japanese grammer are following:

wa(Hiragana "ha" is pronounced "wa" if it follows the subject)

Subject Marker

ga

Topic Marked

to

and

mo

too(similar)

wo(Pronounced as 'o')

Direct Object Marker

ni

Direction or Time Marker, Indirect Object Marker

e(Hiragana "he" is pronounced "e" if it follows a place or direction)

Direction Marker

Particles wa and ga: Particle wa marks the subject of the sentence. Particle ga marks the topic of the sentence. In the example, "I know where you live" (watashi wa anata ga doko ni sunde iru ka shitte iru), "I" would be the subject while "you" would be the topic.

Not all sentences have both a subject and topic and, in many cases, the subject is implied in Japanese (for example, the "I" (watashi wa) would be left out of this sentence because it is implied that since I am talking I am the one that knows where you live). Many Japanese books and teachers teach that "wa" and "ga" are the same thing and it doesn't matter which you use when. This is not the case but I wouldn't worry too much about keeping them straight at first.

Particle to: to is used for connecting nouns. Nouns combined with 'to' can then be used as a single noun in the sentence.Example: Noun1 to Noun2

Particle mo:mo indicates that there is a similar object to Noun.

Particle wo:The particle "wo" (or "o") marks the direct object of the sentence. In the example, "I'm going to take her home" (watashi wa kanojo wo ie ni okuru), "her" would be the direct object.

Particle ni:The particle "ni" can be used to mark the direction, time, or the indirect object of a sentence.
An example of a direction marker can be seen in the previous example "I'm going to take her home" (watashi wa kanojo wo ie ni okuru). In this case, the "ni" acts like a "to" - "I'm going to take her 'to' home".

Particle e: Particle e can be used in this as well but usually implies more of a general direction as opposed to a specific places.

The particle "ni" is also used to mark time in a sentence. For example, "I'm leaving at 3 o'clock" (watashi wa sanji ni hanareru).

The final use for the particle "ni" is that of indirect object marker. In the example, "I was taken home by him" (watashi wa kare ni ie made okurareta), "him" is the indirect object.

Introduction in Japanese
This chapter describes how to introduce one of your friends to other in a party.

Japanese Version
Tanaka: Konnichiwa.
Kimura: Konnichiwa.
Tanaka: Kimura-san, kochira wa watashi no tomodachi desu. Yamada Hiroko-san desu.
Yamada:Hajimemashite. Yamada Hiroko desu. Douzo yoroshiku.
Kimura: Kimura Ichirou desu. Douzo yoroshiku.
Yamada: Gakusei desu ka.
Kimura:Hai, gakusei desu.
Yamada:Go-senmon wa.
Kimura:Keizai desu. Anata mo gakusei desu ka.
Yamada: Iie, hisho desu.
Kimura:Sou desu ka.

English Version
Tanaka:Hello.
Kimura:Hello.
Tanaka: Mr. Kimura, this is my friend. This is Hiroko Yamada.
Yamada: How do you do? I'm Hiroko Yamada. Nice to meet you.
Kimura: I'm Ichirou Kimura. Nice to meet you.
Yamada: Are you a student?
Kimura: Yes, I am.
Yamada: What is your specialization?
Kimura: Economics. Are you a student, too?
Yamada:No, I'm a secretary.
Kimura: I see.