Small talk: The weather

🇯🇵 [こんにちは] is common in the daytime, but Japanese small talk often starts more naturally with the topic itself, like [今日はいい天気ですね].

💬 [か] turns a statement into a question. You can swap in other words before it: [大丈夫ですか？] "Are you okay?", [暑いですか？] "Is it hot?".

🇯🇵 In Japanese, [元気ですか？] is not as routine as "How are you?" in English. It's more often used when checking in after some time, not as the default greeting with strangers.

🇯🇵 [元気です] is a fine textbook reply, but in real conversation adults often answer more casually and specifically, or skip it and move on to the topic.

💬 [いかが] is a more polite way to say "how" than [どう]. You'll often see it in set phrases like [いかがですか？] or [お味はいかがですか？].

🇯🇵 [いかがですか？] sounds polite and natural when offering something or asking for someone's opinion. On its own as "How about you?" after [元気ですか？], it's understandable but less common than in English-style small talk.