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 used only when meeting someone for the first time. Often followed by [よろしくお願いします] as a set greeting.
🇯🇵 In Japan: A small bow is common when saying [はじめまして], especially in business or formal settings.
Phrase Breakdown
はじめ
hajime
[hah-jee-meh]
for the first time; (in greetings) ‘nice to meet you’
From はじめる (to begin). In greetings, はじめまして is a fixed polite phrase said when meeting someone for the first time.
はじめまして、田中です。
Nice to meet you, I’m Tanaka.
まし
mashi
[mah-shee]
(part of polite expression)
まし is part of the polite set phrase はじめまして (historically related to polite verb forms). You normally learn it as one chunk: はじめまして.
はじめまして、よろしくお願いします。
Nice to meet you. I look forward to working with you.
て
te
[teh]
(part of polite expression)
て here is part of まして in the fixed greeting はじめまして. It’s not used alone in this meaning.
はじめまして、山田と申します。
Nice to meet you; my name is Yamada.
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