Learn Japanese : Master Basic Greetings in Japanese!

In this article, you're going to learn a few tips to master basic Japanese greetings.
you're gonna to learn how to say : Hi, how are you? in Japanese and how to answer.
Here's a typical conversation you hear everyday in Japan :

• こんにちは。Konnichiwa = Hi or Hello.

Konnichiwa is a general greeting, meaning Hi or Hello. It also means good afternoon as one of the greetings for the day, but you can say konnichiwa all day long as greeting when you meet people.

• おげんきですか? O-genki desu ka? = literally means are you healthy? but it's used to mean How are you?.

お O = is the respectful prefix (polite marker).

げんき Genki = means healthy.
です Desu =  expresses politeness in Japanese. It can often be translated as the verb TO BE.
か Ka = a particle used to form questions.

To answer the question O-genki desu ka? you say :

• げんきです。Genki desu. = I'm fine. The only difference is you dropped the Ka when answering the question..

We can say the exact same thing with these two words :

• げんき? Genki? = How are you?
• げんき。Genki. = I'm fine.

The only difference is the intonation . Be careful this is a very informal conversation don't use it with the teacher or in business situations.