Japanese Lesson 01 – Greetings & Farewells · N5

📋 Expression Reference

Every greeting and farewell for this topic, from formal to slang. Press ▶ to hear any expression.

FORMAL — 丁寧語 (teineigo)

Expression	Romaji	Typical Response	Context / Situation
おはようございます	Ohayou gozaimasu	おはようございますOhayou gozaimasu	Good morning — before ~10 am; to superiors or strangers
こんにちは	Konnichiwa	こんにちはKonnichiwa	Hello / Good afternoon — midday greeting, all contexts
こんばんは	Konbanwa	こんばんはKonbanwa	Good evening — after dark
はじめまして	Hajimemashite	はじめまして。よろしくおねがいします。Hajimemashite. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.	Nice to meet you — said only the first time you meet someone
よろしくおねがいします	Yoroshiku onegaishimasu	こちらこそ、よろしくおねがいします。Kochira koso, yoroshiku onegaishimasu.	Please treat me well — requesting goodwill when meeting or starting something
おげんきですか？	Ogenki desu ka?	はい、おかげさまで。Hai, okage sama de.	How are you? (formal) — best when re-meeting after a gap
さようなら	Sayounara	さようならSayounara	Goodbye — formal; implies a longer separation; not used daily
おやすみなさい	Oyasuminasai	おやすみなさいOyasuminasai	Good night (formal) — parting at night or before sleep

CASUAL — ため口 (tameguchi)

Expression	Romaji	Typical Response	Context / Situation
おはよう	Ohayou	おはよう！Ohayou!	Morning — casual version; drop ございます with friends and classmates
やあ！	Yaa!	やあ！ / よ！Yaa! / Yo!	Hey! — relaxed greeting; mainly male speech
げんき？	Genki?	うん、げんき！Un, genki!	You good? — casual "how are you?"; rising intonation makes it a question
ひさしぶり！	Hisashiburi!	ほんとうだね！ひさしぶり！Hontou da ne! Hisashiburi!	Long time no see! — for friends you haven't seen in a while
よろしく	Yoroshiku	こちらこそ！Kochira koso!	Nice to meet you (casual) / Nice to have you on board
またね	Mata ne	またね！Mata ne!	See you — the standard casual goodbye
じゃあね	Jaa ne	じゃあ！Jaa!	Bye then — slightly warmer than またね; implies "see you around"
おやすみ	Oyasumi	おやすみOyasumi	Good night (casual) — drop なさい with close friends and family

SLANG — くだけた言い方

Expression	Romaji	Typical Response	Context / Situation
おっす！	Ossu!	おっす！Ossu!	Yo! — very casual; common among male youth; compressed from おはようございます
ちわ！	Chiwa!	ちわ！Chiwa!	Hi! — short form of こんにちは; widely used online and in text
よ！	Yo!	よ！Yo!	Yo! — borrowed from English; used by Japanese youth in casual settings
うっす	Ussu	うっすUssu	Hey — mumbled casual grunt greeting; mostly masculine
ばいばい	Bai bai	ばいばい！Bai bai!	Bye bye — borrowed from English; widely used by all ages informally
またな	Mata na	またな！Mata na!	See ya — very casual またね; mainly male speech

🗣 Mini Dialogues

Three short scenes showing the same situation at different formality levels. Press ▶ to hear each line.

A — FORMAL · Business Meeting

やまもと

はじめまして。やまもとと　もうします。どうぞよろしくおねがいします。

Hajimemashite. Yamamoto to moushimasu. Douzo yoroshiku onegaishimasu.

Nice to meet you. My name is Yamamoto. Please treat me well.

はじめまして。 [NAME] と　もうします。どうぞよろしく。

Hajimemashite. [name] to moushimasu. Douzo yoroshiku.

Nice to meet you. [name] I humbly go by Please treat me well.

→ Swap [NAME] to introduce yourself formally in any situation.

キム

はじめまして。キムです。こちらこそ、どうぞよろしくおねがいします。

Hajimemashite. Kimu desu. Kochira koso, douzo yoroshiku onegaishimasu.

Nice to meet you. I'm Kim. Likewise, please treat me well.

やまもと

それでは、またあした。おげんきで。

Soredewa, mata ashita. Ogenki de.

Well then, see you tomorrow. Take care.

B — CASUAL · Friends Reuniting

そうた

ひさしぶり！　げんき？

Hisashiburi! Genki?

Long time no see! You good?

みか

うん、げんき！　そうたくんは？

Un, genki! Souta-kun wa?

Yeah, I'm good! And you, Souta?

うん、げんき！ [NAME] は？

Un, genki! [name] wa?

Yeah, good! [name/you] [topic] — and?

→ Reply "I'm good!" then bounce the question back: "[name] wa?" = "And you / And [name]?"

そうた

ぼくもげんき。またね！

Boku mo genki. Mata ne!

I'm good too. See you!

C — SLANG · Online Chat

ゆー

おっす、はる！　ちわ！

Ossu, Haru! Chiwa!

Hey, Haru! Hi!

はる

よ！　ゆー、ひさしぶりじゃん！

Yo! Yuu, hisashiburi jan!

Yo! Yuu, it's been ages!

ゆー

そうそう！　またな、ばいばい！

Sou sou! Mata na, bai bai!

Right?! See ya, bye bye!

📋 Key Patterns & Cheatsheet ▼

1 · Morning greeting

FORMAL

おはようございます。

Ohayou gozaimasu.

→ "Good morning." — to teachers, bosses, strangers. Always safe.

CASUAL

おはよう。

Ohayou.

→ "Morning." — drop ございます with friends and family.

SLANG

おっす。

Ossu.

→ "Yo." — a very compressed greeting; mainly used by males.

2 · Introducing yourself for the first time

FORMAL

わたしは [NAME] と　もうします。

Watashi wa [name] to moushimasu.

→ "My name is [name]." (lit. I humbly go by [name].) — business / formal situations.

STANDARD

わたしは [NAME] です。

Watashi wa [name] desu.

→ "I am [name]." — the standard N5 introduction pattern. Use this as your default.

CASUAL

[NAME] だよ。

[name] da yo.

→ "I'm [name]." — drop わたしは and です with close friends.

3 · Asking & answering "how are you?"

FORMAL

おげんきですか？

Ogenki desu ka?

→ Q: "How are you?" | A: はい、おかげさまで。(Hai, okage sama de.) "Yes, I'm well, thank you."

CASUAL

げんき？

Genki?

→ Q: "You good?" | A: うん、げんき！(Un, genki!) "Yeah, I'm good!"

4 · Saying goodbye

FORMAL

さようなら。

Sayounara.

→ "Goodbye." — formal; carries a sense of finality. Less common in daily life.

CASUAL

またね。／　じゃあね。

Mata ne. / Jaa ne.

→ "See you." / "Bye then." — everyday casual goodbyes; both are universally understood.

SLANG

またな。／　ばいばい。

Mata na. / Bai bai.

→ "See ya." / "Bye bye." — またな is mainly male; ばいばい is used by everyone informally.

A — Flashcards

Click the card to flip it and reveal the romaji and meaning. Press ▶ on the front to hear the phrase.

tap to flip

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B — Listen & Choose the Meaning

Press ▶ to hear each phrase, then pick the correct English meaning from the four options.

C — Choose the Right Response

Press ▶ to hear the prompt (Japanese + romaji shown), then choose the best response. Romaji is shown on all options.

D — Listen & Write in Romaji

Press ▶ to hear each phrase, then type what you heard in romaji. Japanese letters are not needed — just roman letters.

💡 Tip: Long vowels → double the vowel (おう = ou, おお = oo). Double consonants → write them twice (きって = kitte).

E — Shadowing Practice

Listen to each line, say it out loud, then tick Practised ✓. Try to match the rhythm and intonation — not just the sounds.

🎙 Tip: Speak with the audio at the same time, not after it. Reduce the rate in your device's accessibility settings if it's too fast.

0 of 9 lines practised

📖 Grammar Notes ▼

はじめまして — First-meeting greeting

Use はじめまして (hajimemashite) only the first time you meet someone. It literally means "For the first time [I meet you]." Once you know someone, you cannot use it again with them — it would sound strange.

はじめまして。 [NAME] です。よろしく。

Hajimemashite. [name] desu. Yoroshiku.

→ "Nice to meet you. I'm [name]. Pleased to meet you." — the core N5 first introduction.

はじめまして。たなかです。よろしくおねがいします。

Hajimemashite. Tanaka desu. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.

Nice to meet you. I'm Tanaka. Please treat me well.

よろしくおねがいします — Requesting goodwill

よろしくおねがいします has no direct English equivalent. It literally means "I beg you to treat me well" and is used when meeting someone, starting a project, or asking a favour. Casual version: よろしく. The standard response is こちらこそ (kochira koso) — "likewise / same to you."

こちらこそ、よろしくおねがいします。

Kochira koso, yoroshiku onegaishimasu.

Likewise, pleased to meet you. (lit. It is I who should say that.)

おかげさまで — The set-phrase response to "how are you?"

When asked おげんきですか？, the natural polite reply is はい、おかげさまで。 — literally "Yes, thanks to your blessing." It is a fixed cultural phrase. Do not try to translate it literally; just use it as "I'm well, thank you." Then you can ask back: [NAME]-さんは？ (And you, [name]?)

A: おげんきですか？　B: はい、おかげさまで。やまもとさんは？

A: Ogenki desu ka? B: Hai, okage sama de. Yamamoto-san wa?

A: How are you? B: I'm well, thank you. And you, Yamamoto?

[NAME]-さん — Honorific title

さん (san) is attached to other people's names as a polite title — like "Mr." / "Ms." in English. Never use it with your own name. For close male friends use くん (kun); for children or close female friends use ちゃん (chan). In slang, people often drop all suffixes entirely.

たなかさん、こんにちは！

Tanaka-san, konnichiwa!

Hello, Mr./Ms. Tanaka!

さようなら vs またね — Shades of goodbye

さようなら carries a sense of finality — used for longer separations. In everyday life, Japanese speakers use またね (mata ne — "see you") or じゃあね (jaa ne — "bye then"). Using さようなら with close friends can sound overly dramatic or even sad.

じゃあね！またあした！

Jaa ne! Mata ashita!

Bye! See you tomorrow!

ね / よ / じゃん — Sentence-ending particles

These particles add attitude:
ね (ne) — seeks agreement or softens: "right? / isn't it?"
よ (yo) — asserts, emphasises: "I'm telling you! / you know"
じゃん (jan) — casual surprise / asserting something obvious: "right?! / obviously" (Kanto slang / youth)

ひさしぶりじゃん！

Hisashiburi jan!

It's been ages, hasn't it! (asserting surprise)

📚 Key Vocabulary ▼

Japanese	Romaji	Meaning
はじめまして	Hajimemashite	Nice to meet you (first meeting)
おはようございます	Ohayou gozaimasu	Good morning (formal)
おはよう	Ohayou	Good morning (casual)
こんにちは	Konnichiwa	Hello / Good afternoon
こんばんは	Konbanwa	Good evening
さようなら	Sayounara	Goodbye (formal / final)
またね	Mata ne	See you (casual)
じゃあね	Jaa ne	Bye then (casual)
おやすみなさい	Oyasuminasai	Good night (formal)
おやすみ	Oyasumi	Good night (casual)
よろしくおねがいします	Yoroshiku onegaishimasu	Please treat me well / Pleased to meet you
こちらこそ	Kochira koso	Likewise / Same to you
おかげさまで	Okage sama de	I'm well, thank you (set phrase)
ひさしぶり	Hisashiburi	Long time no see
おっす	Ossu	Hey! (very casual greeting)