Episode 2
Greetings for Every Occasion
Learn Japanese greetings for evening, goodbye, and apology plus talk about your nationality with the desu pattern.
In episode 2, you'll expand your greeting toolkit beyond morning and afternoon. Learn how to say good evening, good night, goodbye, and the incredibly useful すみません (excuse me). Then stretch the AはBです pattern to talk about your nationality.
What You'll Learn#
greetings for all occasions
Evening greeting (こんばんは), goodnight (おやすみなさい), goodbye (さようなら).
excuse me / sorry
すみません — used for apologies, getting attention, and expressing gratitude for someone's trouble.
A is B
Stating your nationality: 私はアメリカ人です (I'm American). The suffix 〜人 (jin) means person.
New vocabulary: こんばんは (good evening), おやすみなさい (good night), さようなら (goodbye), すみません (excuse me), アメリカ人 (American person)
Lesson Transcript#
Review from Episode 1#
Quick warm-up with greetings from last time:
More Greetings#
Good evening — notice it shares the こん prefix with こんにちは:
Good night — the root word やすみ means rest:
The formal goodbye:
Excuse Me / I'm Sorry#
One of the most versatile words in Japanese:
Nationality with AはBです#
Using the same pattern from Episode 1, now with nationality. The suffix 〜人 (jin) means "person":
Related Grammar#
- Greeting Expressions — Full guide to Japanese greetings
- 〜です (is/am/are) — Deep dive into the copula pattern
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