How to Say ‘Beginning / first’ in Japanese
はじめ
hajime
[hah-jee-meh]
💬 Usage Tip: This comes from the idea of “start/first time.” You’ll mainly meet it inside the greeting [はじめまして].
🇯🇵 In Japan: In introductions, Japanese often highlights “this is our first meeting,” which is why “beginning/first” is built into the standard greeting.
Phrase Breakdown
はじめ
hajime
[hah-jee-meh]
beginning; first (as in ‘for the first time’)
In greetings, はじめ is part of はじめまして and comes from 初め (first time). It signals “this is our first time meeting.”
はじめは緊張したけど、音楽の話で仲良くなった。
At first I was nervous, but we became friends by talking about music.
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