100+ Useful Conversational Words & Phrases in Japanese
Are you thinking about learning Japanese but find yourself struggling to find resources that help you start speaking?
When I started out, I certainly did.
Many of the tools that I found when I started learning Japanese were grammar-heavy textbook style resources and they didn’t offer me a lot in terms of day-to-day conversation. Rather than learning how to say “what did you do last weekend?” I memorized a bunch of rules involving particles or sentence structure and I was nowhere near conversing with my fellow Japanese speakers.
So I decided to put something together on my own so that I could feel more confident engaging in language exchanges.
And today, I’d like to share it with you.
In this post you’ll find a short selection of the 100+ conversational phrases and words in Japanese I have available as part of a downloadable PDF that you can get by entering your email in the box below.
They’re the phrases I get the most mileage with when I converse in Japanese. I hope you find them useful, too.
Happy Japanese language learning!
Get your free PDF with 100+ Conversational Japanese Words and Phrases
Greetings
English Japanese Transliteration Hello/Good dayこんにちはkonnichiwaHello (on the phone/Skype)もしもしmoshi moshiHow are you?おげんきですか？ogenki desu ka?>I’m good.げんきですgenki desuLong time no see.おしゃしぶりですoshashiburidesu
Basic & Polite Phrases
English Japanese Transliteration PleaseおねがいしますonegaishimasuThank you so muchどうもありがとうございまdoumo arigatou gozaimasuExcuse meすみませんsumimasenI’m sorryごめんなさいgomennasaiYou’re welcomeどういたしましてdouitashimashite
Get the Conversation Rolling
English Japanese Transliteration Are you busy now?いまいそがしいですか？ima isogashii desu ka?What are you plans this weekend?こんしゅうまつよていがありますか？konshuumatsu yotei ga arimasu ka?How is your family?かぞくのみなさんわいかがですか？kazoku no minasan wa ikaga desu ka?Tell me about yourselfじこしょうかいをおねがいしますjiko shoukai o onegaishimasuWhat do you think?どうおもいますか?dou omoimasu ka?
Getting a Bit of Clarification
English Japanese Transliteration How do you say that in English?それわえいごでなんといいますか？sore wa eigo de nanto iimasu ka?I don’t understand.わかりませんwakarimasenI forgotわすれましたwasuremashitaI don’t know.しりませんshirimasenCan you please say it slowly?もとゆっくりはんして?moto yukkuri hanshite?
Words About Time
English Japanese Transliteration Every dayまいにちmai nichiSometimesじじjijiNowいまimaLaterあとでatodeMaybeたぶんtabun
Exclamations & Transition Words to Take Your Speaking to the Next Level
English Japanese Transliteration That’s a good questionそれはよいしつもんですねSore wa yoishitsu mondesu neAlrightだいじょうぶdaijoubuWait a momentちょっとまってくださいchotto matte kudasaiDon’t worryくよくよするなkuyokuyo suru naOopsおっとっとottotto
Conversation Closers
English Japanese Transliteration Thank you for your timeおいそがしいところありがとうございましたo isogashii tokoro arigatou gozaimashitasee you laterじゃあまたjaa matasee youまたねmataneGoodbyeさようならsayounara
*Please note that most of the above examples use formal language, assuming that you’re getting to know the person that you’re speaking with.
Get your free PDF with 100+ Conversational Japanese Words and Phrases
Are you learning Japanese? What are some phrases that you’ve found useful in your target language? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!
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