How to Say ‘How are you?’ in Japanese
お元気ですか？
o genki desu ka
[o genki desu ka]
💬 Usage Tip: In [お元気ですか？], the [お] makes the phrase more polite, and [ですか] turns it into a polite question. You can reuse that pattern with other nouns too, like [お名前ですか？] in different contexts.
Phrase Breakdown
お
o
[o]
Polite marker
Used to make a sentence more polite.
お元気ですか？
How are you?
元気
genki
[genki]
Healthy
Used to inquire about someone's well-being.
友達は元気です。
My friend is healthy.
です
desu
[desu]
Is/am/are
A copula used to describe a state or condition.
私は学生です。
I am a student.
か
ka
[ka]
Question marker
Turns a statement into a question.
あなたは日本人ですか？
Are you Japanese?
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