Hello & Good-evening in Japanese of Recent Article

"Hello" and "Good evening" in Japanese

<こんにちは(konnichiwa); Hello>:

"Konnichiwa" is general greeting of saying hello in Japanese.
You can use "Konnichiwa" any time of the day.
Basically, the greeting word "Konnichiwa" is used from about 10:00AM to about 6:00PM.
(It is "Time the sun is shining" actually.)

<こんばんわ(konbanwa); Good evening>:
Konbanwa means "Good Evening".
It's usually used in formal conversation, and "Konbanwa" is a fixed greeting.

Or, expression "おばんでございます(obande gozaimasu)" is used. (It's the Touhoku dialect.)
If you're in Sendai, the largest city in north-east Japan, they may refer to it as Sendaiben.
In all of these cases, "ben" means dialect.

 

 

Writing "Hello" and "Good evening" in Japanese

There are two ways of writing "Konnichiwa and Konbanwa".

1. Writing in the hiragana and kanji

Kanji and Konnichiwa in the hiragana have the meaning "Today".
"Konnichiwa" in the hiragana and kanji is "Today + particle "は(ha)".

There is a rule for writing hiragana "わ(wa)" and "は(ha)".
When "わ(wa)" is used as a particle, it is written in hiragana as "は(ha)".
However, in the old days it was a part of sentence such as "Tonight(今晩[konban] is(は[wa]) " and "わ(wa)" functioned as a particle.
That's why it is still written in hiragana as "は(ha)".

 

2. Writing only in the hiragana.

Typically "konnichiwa" is written "こんにちはorこんにちわ".
Writing "Konnichiwa and Konbanwa" in the hiragana is the most general.
And the use of hiragana "は(ha)" is correct.
Therefore, "こんにちは/今日は(konnichiwa)" and "こんばんは/今晩は(konbanwa)" are the most correct, general writing.

English	Hello	Pronunciation
Hiragana	こんにちは	konnichiwa
Katakana	コンニチハ
Kanji & Hiragana	今日は

English	Good evening	Pronunciation
Hiragana	こんばんは	konbanwa
Katakana	コンバンハ
Kanji & Hiragana	今晩は

Conversation: "Konnichiwa" and "Konbanwa".

Hello, How are you?
Japanese	Colloquialism: 今日はor今晩は、元気？ Honorific: 今日はor今晩は、ご機嫌いかが（ですか）？
Hiragna	Colloquialism: こんにちはorこんばんは、げんき？ Honorific: こんにちはorこんばんは、ごきげんいかが（ですか）？
Katakana	Colloquialism: コンニチハorコンバンハ、ゲンキ？ Honorific: コンニチハorコンバンハ、ゴキゲンイカガ（デスカ）？
Pronunciation	Colloquialism: konnichiwa or konbanwa, genki? Honorific: konnichiwa or konbanwa, gokigen ikaga desuka?

Hello, How's it going?
Japanese	Colloquialism: 今日はor今晩は、調子はどう？ Honorific: 今日はor今晩は、調子はいかがですか？
Hiragna	Colloquialism: こんにちはorこんばんは、ちょうしはどう？ Honorific: こんにちはorこんばんは、ちょうしはいかがですか？
Katakana	Colloquialism: コンニチハorコンバンハ、チョウシハドウ？ Honorific: コンニチハorコンバンハ、チョウシハイカガデスカ？
Pronunciation	Colloquialism: konnichiwa or konbanwa, chooshi wa doo? Honorific: konnichiwa or konbanwa, choushi wa ikaga desuka?

 

<The answer to "Konnichiwa" and "Konbanwa">:

How about you?
Japanese	Colloquialism: あなたor君orそっち はどう？ Honorific: あなたorそちら はいかがですか？
Hiragna	Colloquialism: あなたorきみorそっち はどう？ Honorific: あなたorそちら はいかがですか？
Katakana	Colloquialism: アナタorキミorソッチ ハドウ？ Honorific: アナタorソチラ ハイカガデスカ？
Pronunciation	Colloquialism: anata or kimi or socchi wa doo? Honorific: anata or sochira wa ikaga desuka?

Great!/Pretty good"
Japanese	Colloquialism: めちゃめちゃorすごい元気！ Honorific: とてもorとっても元気です。
Hiragna	Colloquialism: めちゃめちゃorすごいげんき！ Honorific: とてもorとってもげんきです！
Katakana	Colloquialism: メチャメチャorスゴイ ゲンキ！ Honorific: トテモorトッテモ ゲンキデス！
Pronunciation	Colloquialism: mechamecha or sugoi genki! Honorific: totemo or tottemo genki desu!

Good!
Japanese	Colloquialism: うん、元気。 Honorific: はい、元気です。
Hiragna	Colloquialism: うん、げんき。 Honorific: はい、げんきです。
Katakana	Colloquialism: ウン、ゲンキ。 Honorific: ハイ、ゲンキデス。
Pronunciation	Colloquialism: un, genki. Honorific: hai, genki desu.

Not bad/I'm OK
Japanese	Colloquialism: まあまあかな。 Honorific: まあまあです。　　 *"maa maa" doesn't have kanji.
Hiragna	Colloquialism: まあまあかな。 Honorific: まあまあです。
Katakana	Colloquialism: マアマア カナ。 Honorific: マアマア デス。
Pronunciation	Colloquialism: maa maa kana. Honorific: maa maa desu.

 

Well, I'm OK.
Japanese	Colloquialism: うーん、まあまあかな。 Honorific: そうですねー、まあまあです。
Hiragna	Colloquialism: うーん、まあまあかな。 Honorific: そうですねー、まあまあです。
Katakana	Colloquialism: ウーン、マアマアカナ。 Honorific: ソウデスネー、マアマアデス。
Pronunciation	Colloquialism: u---n, maa maa kana. Honorific: soodesune--, maa maa desu.

 

 

Some questions to "Yahoo answer"

A lot of questions on "Konnichiwa" and "Konbanwa" and the answers are in "Yahoo answer".
If you don't mind, read the questions and answers.

Q: How do you write konnichiwa?

How do you write konnichiwa? In hiragana? Why do they have an extra "n" in there? Isn't that redundant? Is there some obscure grammatical rule that explains this?

A.

The extra "n" is in there, because that's how the word is pronounced. It's actually a compound word that literally means "this day". "今(kon)" is "Now or This"; "日(nichi)" is "Day". To take out the first "n" would make the word sound really funny. Like in English, in the compound word "penknife" (pen+knife) you are really saying the sound "n" twice. Try saying it without that first "ん(n)". Penife. Sounds funny and wrong, doesn't it! It's the same for the Japanese! Just saying "konichiwa" sounds funny; so make sure you add that extra "ん(n)"!

Q. How to properly write konnichiwa in Japanese?

How to properly write konnichiwa in Japanese? I'm just starting to learn Japanese and know my Hiragana. As such I would assume konnichiwa to be written as: こんにちわbut i've also seen it as: こんにちは Which is right? and why?

A.

Traditionally,"こんにちは" is correct. But these days a lot of the young generation write こんにちわ as well. Although no one thinks of it literally anymore, if we break it down, literally, it means "Today is", or "This day is". This means that the WA at the end is a grammatical particle, not a part of a noun. As you may have already learnt, we use the character "は(ha)"for the grammatical particle pronounced as "wa", meaning "is". Example: Kare 'WA' nihonjin desu. (He is Japanese) In this case, we use "は". Because of this, sometimes in Roman characters (English alphabet) the Japanese will write "Kare HA nihonjin desu" but still pronounced "wa". For other "wa"わ, for example for a noun such as "niwa" (garden) we would use the character わ. Example: Niwa ni wani ga iru. (There is a crocodile in the garden). Both 'wa' will use "わ".

Q. What is the difference between these three words for Konnichiwa?

What is the difference between these three words for Konnichiwa? こんにちは- isn't that ending in Ha? When it should be Wa? こんにちわ- this ending in Wa. 今日は- is this also ok?
A.	"こんにちは and 今日は" are orthographical. "こんにちは" looks softer. Spelling "こんにちわ" is wrong but often used among younger people.

Read More: "Yahoo answers; Konnichiwa"

 

Q. Is saying konbanwa gozaimasu acceptable in Japanese?

Is saying konbanwa gozaimasu acceptable in Japanese? I know you can say ohayoo gozaimasu is the formal way of saying ohayoo. So does that mean that konbanwa gozaimasu would be acceptable too? like a formal version of konbanwa?
A.	No, you shouldn't say "こんばんは ございます(konbanwa gozaimasu)" -it is not correct. It may seem to, and I do understand how you came to the conclusion, but it is not used that way. Konbanwa has no collocations that I know of, and is simply used by itself unlike ohayoo. The same applies to Konnichiwa, you can not add "gozaimasu" to that either.
R.H.	Advice from hararie: It is better to use expression "おばんでございます(obande gozaimasu)" if you want to speak "Konbanwa" politely.

Q. What the difference between konbanwa and konichiwa?

What the difference between konbanwa and konichiwa?
A.	Konbawa means 'good evening' and konnichiwa means 'good afternoon' . Konnichiwa can also be used as 'hello' =)
R.H.	Advice from hararie: Konnichiwa is as the case may be used at night.

Read More: "Yahoo answers; Konbanwa"

Hararie