You may have noticed how certain phrases crop up a lot in anime, but do you know what they're saying and do you know exactly what they mean? This post looks at these common phrases used in anime and explains their etymology, hopefully shedding some light on where they came from and their cultural relevance.
These are some some the core phrases used in everyday Japanese language and therefore in anime. Understanding the meaning of the words being used can help you remember the words and spread light on aspects of Japanese culture that you might not be familiar with (such as using a phrase when you leave the house or when someone else leaves). These are phrases that really are used every single day so it's important to know them.
If there are any other phrases you'd like to know more about feel free to ask in the comments section below.
ohayougozaimasu - おはようございます (ohayou - おはよう)
The word for good morning uses はよう (早う) which is an old word meaning "early". The お and ございます is very formal (keigo) grammar which means です, or "it is". In other words おはようございます literally means "it's early".
konichiwa - こんにちは
This word breaks down into "this" こん (今) "day" にち (日) "is" は. You may notice that the "wa" uses the particle は and not わ (although even Japanese people get this mixed up).
は is the particle for a topic marker, which means that the phrase こんにちは is possibly a shortened form for phrases such as "how are you doing today?" (今日は御機嫌いかがですか konnichi wa go-kigen ikaga desu ka) or "isn't it fine weather today?"(今日は良い天気ですね konnichi wa yoi tenki desu ne)
These two words are very, very informal greetings of "hello" or "what's up" used a lot by boys in anime. オッス takes the お from the start and す from the end of おはようございます. There are some variants on these depending on accents and laziness such as ウイス.
konbanwa - こんばんは
This phrase is very similar to こんにちは as it breaks down into "this" こん (今) "evening" ばん (晩) "is" は. And is once again possibly a shortened for of various greetings that were once used in Japanese.