How do you say “How are you?” in Japanese?

“How are you?” is used in everyday conversation in English. You may wonder how we say it in Japanese.

Today, I am going to share the Japanese phrases which means “how are you?”

元気ですか?

When you want to say “how are you?” in Japanese, you can say:

元気ですか?
げんきですか?
Genki desuka?

If I literally translate it into English, it should be “Are you good?”

In a casual conversation, you can also say:

元気?
げんき?
Genki?

Or when you have to be very polite, you might want to say:

お元気ですか?
おげんきですか?
O-genki desuka?

調子はどうですか?

I think these phrases are most commonly used in Japanese conversation. Alternatively, you can say it like this.

調子はどうですか?
ちょうしはどうですか?
Chooshi wa doodesuka?

Or you can casually say,

調子はどう?
ちょうしはどう?
Chooshi wa doo?

調子(ちょうし)means “state / condition”. So, “調子はどうですか?” is more like “how are you?” than “元気ですか?”, but “調子はどうですか?” often sounds more casual than “元気ですか?”

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