| Let's practice. |
| Imagine you're Mark’s co-worker, Yoshi Nakamura. |
| Ask Mark "How are you?" using polite Japanese. |
| Ready? |
| げんきですか。 (Genki desu ka.) |
| まあまあです。 (Māmā desu.) |
| Listen to the question again and repeat. |
| げんきですか。 (Genki desu ka.) |
| げんきですか。 (Genki desu ka.) |
| Let's try another. |
| Imagine you're Karen's Japanese teacher, Tomoko Tanaka. |
| Ask Karen, "How are you, Ms. Lee?" |
| Ready? |
| リーさん、げんきですか。 |
| はい、げんきです。 (Hai, genki desu.) |
| Listen to the question again and repeat. |
| リーさん、げんきですか。 |
| リーさん、げんきですか。 |
| Let’s try one more. |
| Imagine you're Sakura Suzuki, Sasha’s classmate. Ask Sasha, "How are you?" using informal Japanese. |
| Ready? |
| げんき？ (Genki?) |
| げんき。 (Genki.) |
| Listen to the question again and repeat. |
| げんき？ (Genki?) |
| げんき？ (Genki?) |
| In English, the question "How are you," is used every day to ask about someone’s well-being. In Japanese, however, the question げんきですか。(Genki desu ka.) "Are you well?" tends to be used when people have not met for some time. |
| The nuance is "How are you (since the last time we met)?" There is no set time frame for how much time needs to pass, but a good rule of thumb is at least a few days. |
| You will also encounter a more polite version of げんきですか (genki desu ka) which is おげんきですか。(O-genki desu ka.) |
| Simply attach the polite prefix お to げんきですか。(Genki desu ka.) |
| This tends to be used when a significant amount of time has passed since the last encounter or with people of higher social status. |
| A correct and common response to おげんきですか。(O-genki desu ka.) is げんきです。(Genki desu.) A common mistake by Japanese learners is to use the prefix お-(o-) in the response. Avoid this common mistake. |
| This is the end of this lesson. |
| Remember, these Can Do lessons are about learning practical language skills. |
| What's next? |
| Show us what you can do. |
| When you're ready, take your assessment. |
| You can take it again and again, so try anytime you like. |
| Our teachers will assess it, and give you your results. |
| Now you know how to ask about well-being in Japanese. That's all there is to it. |
| Keep practicing — and move on to the next lesson! |
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