The everyday way to say hello in Japanese is kon-ni-chi-wa (こんにちは) — but it is really a daytime greeting, used from late morning until dusk. Early in the day people say o-ha-yo go-za-i-ma-su (おはようございます), and once it is dark the greeting switches to kon-ban-wa (こんばんは).
So the "right" hello depends on the clock. Get the timing close and you sound natural; lead every greeting with a small bow and you sound like you belong.
Kon-ni-chi-wa is a daytime greeting
Kon-ni-chi-wa (こんにちは) covers you from roughly late morning to early evening. It is friendly, polite, and safe with almost anyone — a shopkeeper, a stranger, a new acquaintance you have just been introduced to.
What it is not is an all-day word. Say it at 7 a.m. and it lands a little oddly, like greeting someone with "good afternoon" over breakfast.
こんにちは
kon-ni-chi-wa
Hello (daytime)
おはようございます
o-ha-yo go-za-i-ma-su
Good morning (polite)
こんばんは
kon-ban-wa
Good evening
Greetings in Japan come with a bow. You do not need a deep, formal bend — a small nod of the head as you say kon-ni-chi-wa is enough, and it instantly makes the greeting feel sincere rather than rushed.
Morning, evening, and casual hellos
Mornings belong to o-ha-yo go-za-i-ma-su (おはようございます). With friends you can drop the tail and just say o-ha-yo (おはよう). After dark, use kon-ban-wa (こんばんは) — evening only, and it does not shorten into a casual form the way morning does.
For casual goodbyes among friends, ja ne (じゃあね), "see you," and ma-ta ne (またね), "see you later," are the easy everyday options.
おはよう
o-ha-yo
Morning (casual)
じゃあね
ja ne
See you (casual)
またね
ma-ta ne
See you later (casual)
Match formality to the person. The -masu forms like o-ha-yo go-za-i-ma-su are your safe default with strangers, staff, and anyone older; save the clipped o-ha-yo and ja ne for friends your own age.
Mo-shi mo-shi: hello on the phone
One place kon-ni-chi-wa never goes is the telephone. When Japanese people answer the phone, they say mo-shi mo-shi (もしもし) instead.
It is a hello reserved almost entirely for phone calls, and using it in person would sound strange. There is a genuine story behind why — our guide to mo-shi mo-shi tells it.
Do not answer the phone with kon-ni-chi-wa, and do not greet someone face-to-face with mo-shi mo-shi. The two hellos live in completely different worlds.
O-tsu-ka-re-sa-ma de-su: the workplace hello
Step into any Japanese workplace and you will hear a greeting the textbooks skip: o-tsu-ka-re-sa-ma de-su (お疲れ様です). It has no clean English translation — somewhere between "hello," "thanks for your hard work," and "good to see you."
Coworkers say it when they pass in the hall, join a call, or clock out for the night. At the end of the day it shifts to the past tense, o-tsu-ka-re-sa-ma de-shi-ta (お疲れ様でした).
お疲れ様です
o-tsu-ka-re-sa-ma de-su
Thanks for your work (polite)
お疲れ様でした
o-tsu-ka-re-sa-ma de-shi-ta
Good work today (leaving)
お疲れ
o-tsu-ka-re
Nice work (casual)
Why kon-ni-chi-wa ends in は
Here is a charming detail: kon-ni-chi-wa (こんにちは) is written with は, the character normally read ha — yet it is pronounced wa. That is because は here is the old topic particle, and the greeting began life as a longer phrase, roughly "as for this day..." before the rest simply fell away.
The same thing happened to kon-ban-wa (こんばんは), once "as for this evening..." Knowing the origin makes the spelling stick — and it is a neat first peek at how Japanese particles work.
Keep learning Japanese
A greeting and a nod will carry you further in Japan than any phrasebook. Pick up more with our free Japanese greetings phrases, then practice saying each one out loud with audio and spaced repetition in the Pretalk app — a minute a day is enough to make kon-ni-chi-wa feel automatic.
