Hello in Japanese: Every Greeting That Matters

When you look up how to say hello in Japanese, you land on こんにちは (konnichiwa) everywhere. That is correct, but it is nowhere near the whole story. Depending on the time of day and the person you are greeting, the word changes. The good news: the system is regular, and you can master it in one read.

Japanese does not use a single all-purpose "hello" the way English does. Morning, afternoon, and evening each have their own greeting, and the level of politeness is set by a word you add or leave off. Let us walk through them in order, from the first light of the morning to the phone in your hand.

朝Good morning: おはよう

In the morning you say おはよう (ohayō) with people you are close to, or おはようございます (ohayō gozaimasu) in a polite setting. That trailing ございます is not decoration: it lifts the greeting from casual to respectful.

• おはよう · ohayō · good morning (to someone close)
• おはようございます · ohayō gozaimasu · good morning (polite)

The rule of thumb: with friends or family, おはよう is plenty. With a coworker, a teacher, or a shopkeeper, you add ございます. When in doubt, the longer version never sounds wrong.

おはようございます。今日は寒いですね。
ohayō gozaimasu. kyō wa samui desu ne.
Good morning. It is cold today, isn't it?

昼Hello in Japanese during the day: こんにちは

こんにちは (konnichiwa) is the way to say hello in Japanese from roughly late morning until sunset. It is the catch-all greeting everyone recognizes, and it works just as well with a stranger as with someone you already know.

One thing that puzzles almost every beginner: why does こんにちは end in は, the kana for "ha," but get pronounced "wa"? Because that は is an old topic particle, frozen inside the expression. The full phrase once meant something like "as for this day..." and the greeting is what is left of it. You meet the very same particle at the heart of everyday grammar, so it pays to notice it early.

Two habits keep this greeting sounding right. First, a slight bow, even a small nod of the head, naturally goes with it in person. Second, unlike English, you do not tack on a name the way we say "hello, Mr. Tanaka." A plain こんにちは carries the whole greeting on its own, and adding a name to it can feel oddly stiff.

夜Good evening and good night

Once the sun is down, こんにちは gives way to こんばんは (konbanwa), "good evening." Here too the final は is said "wa," for the same historical reason.

• こんにちは · konnichiwa · hello (daytime)
• こんばんは · konbanwa · good evening

And for the very end of the day, as you head to bed or leave someone late at night, you say おやすみ (oyasumi) with people you are close to, or おやすみなさい (oyasuminasai) in the polite form. That is your "good night."

電Saying hello on the phone: もしもし

In English, "hello" is also what you say when you pick up the phone. Japanese has a dedicated word for that, and it is not こんにちは. You answer with もしもし (moshi moshi).

もしもし is used almost entirely on the phone, mostly at the start of a call or to check the other person is still there when the line goes quiet. Saying こんにちは to answer a call would sound off. This is a small detail, but getting it right is one of those things that instantly marks you as someone who has actually listened to real Japanese.

もしもし、田中さんですか。
moshi moshi, tanaka-san desu ka.
Hello, is this Tanaka?

One note for the workplace: in a formal business call you often skip もしもし and open with a set phrase instead, but for everyday calls with friends and family it is exactly the word you want.

場Who gets which greeting: the question of register

Japanese encodes the social relationship into almost every sentence. For greetings, hold on to one simple logic: the more length you add, the more polite it becomes.

1. Family and close friends: the short forms (おはよう, おやすみ).
2. Acquaintances, neighbors, shopkeepers: こんにちは and こんばんは fit perfectly.
3. Work, teachers, strangers you want to respect: おはようございます, with ございます every time.

Watch out for one common trap: こんにちは sounds a little cold or too formal inside your own home. You would not fire it at your roommate first thing in the morning; you would say おはよう.

If you only remember one move from this whole guide, make it this: when you are unsure how close you are to someone, lean polite. Adding ございます or です costs you nothing and signals respect. Being too casual with the wrong person is the mistake that stings; being too polite barely registers. As you get to know people, they will often invite the casual forms themselves, and you can relax into おはよう and こんばんは from there.

習The greetings no textbook teaches you

Listen to real Japanese and certain expressions come up constantly, even though they rarely show up in the first few lessons. They are worth their weight in gold for sounding natural.

• お疲れさま · otsukaresama · "good work," "thanks for your effort" (at the office, between coworkers, any time of day)
• お疲れさまです · otsukaresama desu · the polite version, traded when you cross paths at work
• ただいま · tadaima · "I'm home" (as you walk through your own door)
• おかえり · okaeri · "welcome back" (the reply from whoever is at home)

お疲れさま is fascinating: at work it functions almost as both hello and goodbye. People say it arriving, leaving, and after a meeting. It is not a greeting tied to the clock but to the relationship, and learning it early genuinely shifts how you hear the language.

音Getting the pronunciation right

Good news: the sounds of Japanese are clean and predictable, with no silent letters to trip over. A few pointers cover most of it.

• The ō in おはよう is a long "o": hold it a beat longer than usual.
• The final u in です is barely voiced, almost whispered ("dess").
• Every syllable carries the same length and weight. There is no English-style stress on one part of the word: こ-ん-に-ち-は, each beat equal.
• The ん is a nasal "n" that takes up its own full beat.

Read these greetings out loud from day one. Hearing yourself say おはよう is what turns a word you recognize into a word you actually use.

始After hello, what comes next?

Once the greeting is out, the natural next move is often to introduce yourself. If you want to follow up with はじめまして and give your name, we lay the whole thing out in our guide on how to introduce yourself in Japanese. And since so many first conversations happen over a drink, the vocabulary in café Japanese is a friendly place to keep going. When someone does something kind for you along the way, knowing how to say thank you in Japanese rounds out the basics.

At Hibi, these greetings show up from your very first words, always inside a real sentence rather than a list, with the kanji on screen and romaji within reach. Keep meeting おはよう at the right moment and you stop reciting it; you just say it. Hibi is launching soon on the App Store, and you can see what it is about on the Hibi page. Five minutes a day, and hello in Japanese becomes second nature.