The most frustrating thing about learning a new language is when you finally feel confident enough to speak to a native speaker in a casual situation, or when you try to listen to native speakers talk to each other, you are lost. What can you do?
This is part 2 of my instruction and explanation of useful Japanese greetings and phrases. This article will focus mainly on state of being. In Japanese, like in English, there are two phrases that mean almost the same thing but usually are used in specific situations.
When you want to say “I’m tired” in English, it can mean that you want to go to bed. The words “I’m sleepy” are a little stronger when expressing the feeling of wanting to sleep. In Japanese, to say you are tired, you can use “Tsukareta (desu).” This is generally used after you do some strenuous work or if you’ve had a long day. The phrase implies that something has already made you tired. Those around you will usually reply with “o-tsukare-sama,” or “o-tsukare-sama deshita” if you were doing the work for them. To use a general sense of the word, you can say “tsukareteru”.
To say “I’m sleepy” you can use the word “Nemui (desu)” which tells a person you are very sleepy. There is a slight difference between tired and sleepy. After a long day, just before you retire to your room. You can say “nemui… oyasuminasai,” which translates to “I’m sleepy, Goodnight.”
Basic emotions are important to know how to express in words. To say you are happy, for example, you should use “ureshii (desu).” This means you feel very content and full of joy. There is another way to say you’re happy as well, but it takes on a meaning of being content with your life. In other words, you feel fortunate. To say this, you can say “shiawase.” A common response to these words is “Sore kiite yokatta,” which roughly means “It’s good to hear that,” or “Glad to hear it.”
“Yokatta” has several uses in different situations. Some of these include expressing relief. If you were worried about something, and it turned out to be nothing, you can exhale while saying “yokatta.” Or if you’re really excited about something, you can say “Yokatta! Yokatta!!” This phrase comes from the word “yoku” which has many uses as well, which I will discuss later on. It may seem strange to some newcomers trying to learn the language, as to why the Japanese use the past tense to express something we would just say “Good!” or “Great!” The only thing I can really say, after trying to pry it out of my Japanese comrades is, that’s just how some phrases are used.
To let someone know you’re sad, you can simply say “kanashii (desu)”
Note: When I use “desu” in parenthesis, it means it’s not required to say, and most people omit it in conversation.
To say you’re fine, or okay. Most people will say “genki.”
I may take a break from this series of greetings and phrases, there are just so many that I’ve discovered to be important to know, I must organize myself, but I will work on it every now and then and start working on some verbs and verb conjugations that are really useful. We’ll see what comes out next.
