How to Say ‘Nice to meet you.’ in Japanese
はじめまして。
hajime mashi te
[hah-jee-meh mah-shee teh]
💬 Usage Tip: [はじめまして] is the classic first-meeting phrase. It literally comes from the idea of 'for the first time,' but in natural English it means 'Nice to meet you.'
🇯🇵 In Japan: In Japan, [はじめまして] is often followed by your name and [よろしくお願いします。] It is a friendly set phrase for new introductions.
Phrase Breakdown
はじめ
hajime
[hah-jee-meh]
beginning; first time
Used in greetings when meeting someone for the first time; here it is part of はじめまして.
はじめはきんちょうしました。
At first, I was nervous.
まし
mashi
[mah-shee]
polite stem part
A polite element that helps form the set greeting はじめまして.
ましはこのことばのいちぶです。
Mashi is one part of this expression.
て
te
[teh]
te-form ending
A grammatical ending; in はじめまして it completes the polite fixed phrase.
てはぶんをつなぐことがあります。
Te can connect parts of a sentence.
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