Episode 1 · JLPT N5
Japanese Greetings & Introducing Yourself
おはよう・はじめまして
How to say good morning, hello and good evening in Japanese, and how to introduce yourself to someone you are meeting for the first time.
Did you catch it?
Listen to the conversation first, with no text, the way the video plays it. Then answer.
Listen to Kenji and Yuki greeting each other at the school gate.
How does Kenji check who he is talking to?
How does Yuki respond when Kenji says よろしくおねがいします?
The conversation
会話Play any line again, or the whole scene. Tap a word to hear only that part. Hide the English to test yourself.
- Yuki
Good morning!
- Kenji
Good morning. Are you Yuki?
- Yuki
Yes, that's right. Nice to meet you, I'm Yuki.
- Kenji
Nice to meet you. I'm Kenji. I look forward to getting to know you.
よろしくおねがいします has no single English translation: roughly 'please be good to me from here on'.
- Yuki
Likewise — I hope we get along!
こちらこそ mirrors the sentiment: 'Likewise — it is I who should say so'.
Words in this scene
単語Key vocabulary introduced in this conversation. Tap any item to view its dictionary or grammar page.
The lesson
What the video teaches, to read at your own pace.
Greet by the time of day
- おはようございます
- Good morninguntil about ten or eleven · おはよう with friends
- こんにちは
- Hellolate morning until about six
- こんばんは
- Good eveningfrom about six in the evening
The greeting depends on the time of day. In the morning, until about ten or eleven, you say おはようございます. Good morning — and with friends, a short おはよう is enough. From then until about six in the evening, you say こんにちは. Hello. From about six, you say こんばんは. Good evening.
Meeting someone
- はじめまして
- Nice to meet youonly the first time you meet
- ゆきです
- I'm Yukiyour name + です
- よろしくお願いします
- roughly: please be good to me from here onno single English — it shifts with the moment
- こちらこそ、よろしくお願いします
- Likewise — I hope we get on well tooこちらこそ = likewise, then the same phrase back to them
When you meet someone for the first time, your name goes between two set phrases. はじめまして means nice to meet you. You say it only at a first meeting. Then you say your name, with です after it. Then you say よろしくお願いします. There is no single English for it. Roughly, it asks the other person to be good to you from here on. The English for it shifts with the moment: at a first meeting it lands near I hope we get on well, and before working together it is closer to I look forward to working with you. You will see it translated a little differently each time. That is the phrase, not a slip. The reply is こちらこそ、よろしくお願いします. こちらこそ means likewise, and the rest is the same phrase said back to you.
Words you will hear
- ゆきさん
- Yukiさん after someone else's name — never your own
- ゆきさんですか
- Are you Yuki?か at the end = a question
- はい、そうです
- Yes, that's right
Two more things you will hear. さん goes after someone else's name, never your own. And か at the end turns a sentence into a question. ゆきさんですか means, are you Yuki? The answer, はい、そうです, means yes, that's right.
Some vowels are whispered
- です
- sounds like "des"
- はじめまして
- sounds like "hajimemash'te"
- よろしく
- sounds like "yorosh'ku"
Listen to the end of です. The last vowel is only whispered, so the word sounds short. The same happens to the し in the middle of はじめまして and よろしく. Copy the sound when you repeat.