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100+ Useful Conversational Words & Phrases in Japanese

100+ Useful Conversational Words & Phrases in Japanese

100+ Conversational Japanese Words and Phrases

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.

See Also
100+ Conversational Korean Words & Phrases

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konnichiwa
Hello (on the phone/Skype)もしもしmoshi moshi
How are you?おげんきですか?ogenki desu ka?>
I’m good.げんきですgenki desu
Long 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onegaishimasu
Thank you so muchどうもありがとうございまdoumo arigatou gozaimasu
Excuse meすみませんsumimasen
I’m sorryごめんなさいgomennasai
You’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 onegaishimasu
What 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wakarimasen
I forgotわすれましたwasuremashita
I don’t know.しりませんshirimasen
Can 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 nichi
Sometimesじじjiji
Nowいまima
Laterあとでatode
Maybe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 ne
Alrightだいじょうぶdaijoubu
Wait a momentちょっとまってくださいchotto matte kudasai
Don’t worryくよくよするなkuyokuyo suru na
Oops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 gozaimashita
see you laterじゃあまたjaa mata
see youまたねmatane
Goodbye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!

100+ Conversational Japanese Words and Phrases
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