Politeness levels for saying "Ohayō gozaimasu"
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https://www.youtube.com/shorts/nSvb-4i8Vzw
"Ohayō gozaimasu" (おはようございます) is a formal way to say "good morning" in Japanese, used in polite situations, to elders, or to superiors. The informal version, "Ohayō" (おはよう), is used among friends and family. It literally relates to "early" and is used from dawn until roughly 10 or 11 a.m. (IAO)
Selected readings
- "OMG moments induced by allegro forms in Pekingese" (1/28/12)
- "Irasshaimase?, part 2" (11/10/21)
- "'Welcome in!'" (12/9/24)
- "Ultra-polite term for miso soup" (1/19/19)
Victor Mair said,
November 5, 2025 @ 11:15 am
My favorite example in English is still "sup" < "What's up?", which I heard in a bar full of sailors. They were all giving high-fives to each other and saying that. I had absolutely no idea what it meant. I knew that it must be something very common in their English (in fact, it was the most frequently uttered expression in that bar), but I felt so silly not being able to figure out what such a common expression meant. One after another, the sailors would walk by each other and say, usually very casually and perfunctorily, "sup". Finally I had to ask someone, and they looked at me as though I were daft. "Sup, man. Sup." It took me several tries before I found someone who was patient enough to explain to me that it meant "What's up?" Whereupon, I explained, "OMG! How can they understand each other?!" I might have come from another world, for I certainly didn't understand them. (source)
Philip Taylor said,
November 5, 2025 @ 11:16 am
… where (if I understand correctly) the comma after "polite situations" is essential — in other words, it is used in polite situations regardless of whether the person being greeted is an elder, a superior, or anyone else. In my (admittedly very limited) experience, "Ohayō gozaimas[u]" is used by (e.g., shop personel to address customers, bus drivers to address passengers and so on. If I have encountered bare "Ohayō", that fact either failed to registed or very rapidly vanished from memory.
Oh, and if anyone could explain the final (snake) sequence, I would be very much obliged.
Victor Mair said,
November 5, 2025 @ 11:24 am
@Philip Taylor
That's what left after the reduction of "gozaimaSu"
David said,
November 5, 2025 @ 11:52 am
It's also a running gag with this particular content creator, that every Japanese set phrase can be ultimately reduced to "sss". It's only one step further than reality, where several phrases condense to おっす in everyday usage.
Chris Button said,
November 5, 2025 @ 3:39 pm
@ David
It had never occurred to me that おっす might be a contraction of おはようございます. It seems so obvious now!
Lucas Christopoulos said,
November 5, 2025 @ 4:51 pm
I never add the "gozaimaSu"…anywhere, to stay free from local social bounds vs integrity
Christian Horn said,
November 5, 2025 @ 5:11 pm
The difference is emphasized in the following example:
(Japanese teacher entering the classroom)
teacher: Ohayou!
class: Ohayou gozaimasu!
One single student who does not know manners: Ohayou!
remaining class, surprised/disturbed: Oooohf!
Steve B said,
November 5, 2025 @ 7:57 pm
One of the surreal (for an American) encounters working for a large Japanese conglomerate is entering the headquarters building at the beginning of the work day. A constant parade of employees goes through the security gate as security guards say "ohayoo gozaimasu" to every single person, creating this huge cacophony of "ohayoogozaimasuohayoogozaimasuohayoogozaimasuohayoogozaimasu
ohayoogozaimasuohayoogozaimasuohayoogozaimasuohayoogozaimasu" echoing around the entry way. None of the people entering say anything, or even acknowledge the existence of those guards.
Rodger C said,
November 6, 2025 @ 10:38 am
IIRC "Sup?" replaced "Sapnin?" ca. 2000 or before.
DDeden said,
November 6, 2025 @ 10:01 pm
"O-ss", abbreviated form of "ohayō gozaimasu" when two regular farmer guys meet in the morning.
François Lang said,
November 7, 2025 @ 10:25 am
Forgive the ignorance here. I've always wondered why Japanese phrases pronounced with a protracted final sibilant "sss" are transliterated with an "su" ending, given that the "u" is never pronounced — at least not that I've never heard.
Chris Button said,
November 7, 2025 @ 3:52 pm
It's connected to the pitch accent, and I happened to mention it recently here:
https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=71776#comment-1635095
It affects the high vowels "i" and "u".
You could think of it somewhat like a reduction to schwa in an unstressed syllable in English.
Chris Button said,
November 7, 2025 @ 5:44 pm
I should add that in addition to the pitch accent, it's also conditioned by a voiceless conditioning environment (e.g., an adjacent "s") that may also pertain to word-final position
Michael Watts said,
November 8, 2025 @ 9:04 am
They're transliterated that way because that is how they are spelled in the Japanese writing system. There isn't a native way to write -s.
Chris Button said,
November 8, 2025 @ 9:50 am
It's worth noting that the devoicing is optional, albeit incredibly common.