Lesson 3: Essential Phrases — Survival Japanese

Choose the phrase that fits the moment

You can now read the kana in すみません, ありがとうございます, and おねがいします. This lesson helps you choose among them: get attention or apologize, thank someone, and make a request. They are useful tools, but no three phrases can handle every situation.

Learn complete expressions, then practice the two sides of an exchange. The tables use kana for accessibility and rōmaji for support. Japanese text may also use kanji: お願いします and おねがいします write the same phrase.

1. Greet someone, or say goodnight

There is no nationwide clock switch at 10 AM or 6 PM. Daylight, setting, and local habit affect the choice. Meeting a teacher at 8 AM is an ordinary setting for おはようございます; meeting a neighbor in the evening fits こんばんは. Some workplaces use おはようございます at the start of a shift even later in the day. Treat the examples as situations, not laws about the clock.

こんばんは opens an evening encounter. おやすみなさい closes it with a goodnight wish, including before bed or when parting late at night. You do not have to be physically getting into bed to say it. With close people, おやすみ is a shorter form.

Spelling matters: こんにちは and こんばんは end in は, read wa. In おはよう, は is read ha. おはよう has a long ō: o–ha–yo–u, four timing beats. Do not shorten it because English “good morning” has a different rhythm.

Japanese does not use the same stress system as English. Avoid guides such as “stress the SEN in sumimasen.” Keep the timing clear and imitate native audio. The u in endings such as ます is often devoiced in ordinary standard speech; this is not a rule to delete written す or every u vowel.

2. Give thanks without counting how often

ありがとうございます is a useful default with someone you do not know well. Adding どうも strengthens the gratitude; longer does not automatically mean more appropriate or more formal. A short sincere thanks can be enough. There is no required number of thank-yous per transaction and no need to compare whole populations by how often they say them.

ありがとう is historically related to ありがたい, whose older sense includes “rare” or “hard to come by.” Its present function is thank you, not a literal statement that someone's action is rare. Learn the history as a memory aid, not a replacement translation.

If someone thanks you for your help, どういたしまして (dō itashimashite) means you're welcome. It is not grammatically forbidden when the other person works in a shop. In an ordinary purchase, however, you do not need to answer every clerk's thank-you with you're welcome: ありがとうございます, a nod, or no spoken reply can fit. What the thanks refers to matters.

3. Use すみません for the purpose you mean

すみません — sumimasen has several common conversational jobs:

Context supplies the function; the word does not have a fixed usage count. Say it clearly, wait for a response, and repeat if the person did not hear. Raising your voice indefinitely or repeating it a set number of times is not the goal.

For apologies, ごめん (gomen) is familiar; ごめんなさい (gomennasai) is a fuller apology often used in personal relationships. すみません works for many everyday apologies, including with strangers. For a formal apology, you may hear もうしわけありません or もうしわけございません. These are useful register distinctions, not a scale where one phrase guarantees sincerity or must be chosen solely by how serious the mistake is.

You: すみません。 — Excuse me.
Passerby: はい。 — Yes?
You: えきはどこですか。 — Where is the station?

えき means station; どこですか asks where it is. Learn the question as a supported chunk here. If you cannot understand the answer, もういちどおねがいします (mō ichido onegaishimasu) asks “Once more, please.” It is more useful than pretending to understand.

4. Separate requesting from offering

はい may show that you are listening rather than agreement with every claim. いいえ can directly answer a suitable yes/no question. When declining an invitation or offer, an explanation or すみません、ちょっと… can soften the refusal; “no” is not forbidden. ちょっと literally means a little, but a hesitant trailing phrase can imply difficulty accepting.

Both はい (ha–i) and いいえ (i–i–e) keep their vowels: two and three timing beats. うん and ううん differ in timing and intonation; listen to examples instead of relying on English “un” and “oon” alone.

For a request, point and say これ、おねがいします, this one, please. これ identifies the indicated thing. You can also request a physical item with これをください (kore o kudasai). Neither phrase makes an unclear gesture clear, and a shop may need more information about size, quantity or availability.

For an offer, use どうぞ while indicating the seat, open doorway, or item. どうぞ is not a universal replacement for おねがいします; nor is “offering” its only grammatical use. It can also appear within requests such as どうぞよろしくおねがいします. Learn its function in the actual sentence.

A café exchange:

You: すみません。おみずをおねがいします。 — Excuse me. Water, please.
Staff: はい、どうぞ。 — Yes, here you are.
You: ありがとうございます。 — Thank you.

おみず is a polite form of みず, water, made by adding the prefix お; みずをください is also a natural request. Notice the sequence: get attention → name the request → receive → thank.

5. Follow the speaker through a home exchange

Think who is moving?, not “Which phrase contains the word home?” いってきます roughly expresses going and coming back; いってらっしゃい is the corresponding send-off. ただいま functions as “I'm home”; おかえりなさい as “Welcome home.” A familiar shorter response is おかえり.

Mika: いってきます。 — I'm off.
Housemate: いってらっしゃい。 — See you later; have a good day.
Mika, later: ただいま。 — I'm home.
Housemate: おかえりなさい。 — Welcome home.

The small っ in the departure phrases matters. In いって, hold the t closure for a beat; do not read i–tsu–te. In らっしゃい, the sh sound is lengthened. A hotel employee may use いってらっしゃいませ as a courteous send-off. Learn that whole expression; ませ is not a suffix to append to any phrase.

6. Open and close a meal

いただきます — itadakimasu is the conventional before-meal expression. A useful literal gloss is I humbly receive; the verb can also mean humbly eat or drink in other contexts. It is not restricted to restaurant meals or only ever usable with food.

ごちそうさまでした — gochisōsama deshita thanks for a completed meal. ごちそうさま is a shorter version. These expressions acknowledge the meal and those involved in providing it; they are common practices, not a compulsory rule whose omission proves bad manners.

At a restaurant:

Staff: いらっしゃいませ。 — Welcome.
You: A small nod, then wait to be seated.
Staff: なんめいさまですか。 — How many people?
You: ひとりです。 — One person.
You, to order: すみません。これ、おねがいします。 — Excuse me. This one, please.
Before eating: いただきます。
After eating: ごちそうさまでした。

ひとり means one person; counting people is developed in the next lesson. いらっしゃいませ welcomes a customer in this scene. You do not need to echo it back. A nod or a suitable greeting can acknowledge the staff; there is no single required verbal answer.

Bowing can accompany greetings and thanks, but eye contact with your head up is not inherently wrong, and you do not need to measure an angle for every thank-you. Choose a natural, attentive response that fits the setting.

Put the pieces together

Try three short scenes aloud. At 9 AM, greet a colleague politely. At a café, get attention, ask for water, and thank the person. In the evening, return home and exchange a homecoming pair. Possible answers are おはようございます; すみません。おみずをおねがいします。ありがとうございます; and ただいま / おかえりなさい.

For one more practice scene, a shop item has the fictional price ¥150. You ask the clerk to handle the purchase with おねがいします, pay ¥200, and receive ¥50 change. ありがとうございます acknowledges the help. These phrases and a small nod are one possible exchange, not a mandatory script. You will learn the price readings in lesson 4.

Before ending, decide what you are doing: greeting, requesting, offering, thanking, apologizing, leaving, or returning. Then choose the phrase. This is more reliable than selecting the longest phrase or repeating the same one in every situation.