How Are You in Japanese: Ogenki Desu Ka and What People Say

How to say how are you in Japanese: the short answer

The standard phrase is お元気ですか (ogenki desu ka), pronounced oh-GEN-kee dess kah. It literally asks "Are you well?" or "Are you in good spirits?", and it is polite and correct in any situation.

The catch is that Japanese people do not use it the way English speakers use "how are you". In English, "how are you" is part of hello; you say it to a colleague you saw yesterday. In Japanese, ogenki desu ka is a real question about someone's wellbeing, so it is asked when there is a reason to ask: you have not seen the person in a while, they have been ill, or you are writing a letter. Ask it to someone you see every day and it sounds like you think they might be sick.

Here is the whole picture in one table, and the rest of the page explains each row.

Ogenki desu ka: what it really means

Take the phrase apart and it makes more sense.

• お (o) is an honorific prefix. It makes "genki" respectful, because you are talking about the other person's wellbeing, not your own.
• 元気 (genki) means healthy, energetic, in good spirits. It is one of the most useful words in Japanese; you will hear it about people, pets, plants and, jokingly, phones with full batteries.
• です (desu) is the polite "is".
• か (ka) turns the sentence into a question.

So ogenki desu ka is "Are you (honourably) well?" That is why it lands strangely as a daily greeting. You would not say "Are you in good health?" to a coworker every morning in English either.

When ogenki desu ka is exactly right

• Meeting a friend, teacher or relative you have not seen for weeks or months.
• The opening line of an email or letter to someone you know: お元気ですか。 (after the name and greeting).
• Asking after someone's family member: ご家族はお元気ですか (gokazoku wa ogenki desu ka), "Is your family well?"
• Speaking to someone who was recently unwell: もうお元気ですか (mou ogenki desu ka), "Are you well now?"

When to avoid it

• With people you see daily. Use the small-talk phrases further down instead.
• As a reflex after konnichiwa. Konnichiwa already carries the friendly acknowledgement; adding ogenki desu ka makes it a medical enquiry.

Genki? The casual how are you in Japanese

Between friends, the whole phrase collapses to one word with a rising tone:

元気？ (genki?) "You good?"

You can pad it a little:

• 元気だった？ (genki datta?) "Were you well?" / "How've you been?" for someone you have not seen in a bit.
• 元気にしてた？ (genki ni shiteta?) "Have you been keeping well?" Warmer, slightly more common than genki datta.
• 元気そうだね (genki sou da ne) "You look well." A nice thing to say on seeing someone; it is a comment, not a question.

Pronunciation: genki is two syllables, GEN-kee, with a hard G as in "get", never a J. The N is a full nasal sound, not swallowed. Keep the vowels short and flat; Japanese has no stress accent like English, so resist the urge to punch the first syllable.

Saikin dou? The phrase Japanese friends actually use

If you want the real everyday equivalent of "how's it going?" between friends, it is this:

最近どう？ (saikin dou?) literally "Recently, how?", meaning "How've you been lately?" / "What's new?"

• 最近 (saikin) = recently, lately
• どう (dou) = how

Variants you will hear:

• 最近どうしてた？ (saikin dou shiteta?) "What have you been up to lately?"
• どう、最近？ (dou, saikin?) Same thing, flipped, very casual.
• 仕事はどう？ (shigoto wa dou?) "How's work?"
• 学校はどう？ (gakkou wa dou?) "How's school?"
• 調子はどう？ (choushi wa dou?) "How are things going?" Choushi means condition or form, so this fits health, projects, sport and mood.

These are questions that invite an actual answer, which is why they work better than a ritual "how are you". You will get a real reply, and the conversation moves.

How to answer how are you in Japanese

Your reply depends on how you were asked. Here are the answers that native speakers actually give.

To ogenki desu ka (polite)

• はい、元気です。(hai, genki desu.) "Yes, I'm well." The standard answer.
• おかげさまで、元気です。(okagesama de, genki desu.) "Thanks to you, I'm well." This is the polished, grateful version, and it is what a well-brought-up Japanese speaker says. Okagesama de means roughly "thanks to your kindness/thanks to everyone". Learn it; it makes you sound like you have been in Japan for years.
• はい、おかげさまで。(hai, okagesama de.) Just the phrase on its own is enough.
• 元気です。〇〇さんは？ (genki desu. [name]-san wa?) "I'm well. And you?" Use the person's name plus san rather than "anata" (you), which sounds cold or overly direct in Japanese.

To genki? (casual)

• うん、元気。(un, genki.) "Yeah, good."
• うん、元気だよ。(un, genki da yo.) "Yeah, I'm good."
• まあまあ。(maa maa.) "So-so." Extremely common and completely acceptable.
• まあね。(maa ne.) "Well, you know." A non-answer that means "fine, nothing special".
• ぼちぼち。(bochi bochi.) "Getting by, bit by bit." Kansai in origin, now understood everywhere; friendly and a little humorous.
• ちょっと疲れてる。(chotto tsukareteru.) "I'm a bit tired." Honest answers are fine between friends.
• 忙しい！ (isogashii!) "Busy!" Probably the most common real answer in Japan.

To saikin dou?

• 特に変わりないよ。(toku ni kawari nai yo.) "Nothing much has changed."
• 相変わらずだよ。(aikawarazu da yo.) "Same as always." A very natural reply.
• 最近忙しくて。(saikin isogashikute.) "I've been busy lately..." (the sentence trails off, which is itself very Japanese).
• 元気だよ。そっちは？ (genki da yo. sotchi wa?) "I'm good. How about you?" Sotchi means "your side", the casual way to bounce the question back.

Bouncing the question back

What Japanese people say instead of how are you

Since ogenki desu ka is not part of the daily greeting, what fills the gap? Mostly acknowledgement phrases and comments about the situation. Learn these and you will sound far more natural than someone who asks ogenki desu ka every morning.

• おはよう / おはようございます (ohayou / ohayou gozaimasu) "Good morning." Between colleagues this is the whole greeting; no "how are you" follows.
• お疲れ様です (otsukaresama desu) "Thank you for your hard work." Said to colleagues on arriving, leaving, passing in the corridor, and at the end of any effort. In an office it does the job "how are you" does in English: it acknowledges the other person.
• お久しぶりです (ohisashiburi desu) "Long time no see." Said when meeting after a gap, and often followed by ogenki desu ka, which is the one moment it belongs.
• 暑いですね (atsui desu ne) "Hot, isn't it?" and 寒いですね (samui desu ne) "Cold, isn't it?" Weather comments are the standard small-talk opener, exactly where an English speaker would put "how are you".
• いい天気ですね (ii tenki desu ne) "Nice weather, isn't it?"
• お世話になっております (osewa ni natte orimasu) "Thank you for your continued support." The opener of almost every business email and phone call, in the slot where English would have "I hope you're well".

How are you in Japanese for texting and email

Casual messages (LINE, texts)

• 元気？ (genki?)
• 最近どう？ (saikin dou?)
• 元気にしてる？ (genki ni shiteru?) "Keeping well?"
• 調子どう？ (choushi dou?) "How's it going?"

Polite email

Japanese emails open with a set phrase, not a question. Typical structure:

1. Name and greeting: 田中様 / 田中さん (Tanaka-sama, formal / Tanaka-san, polite)
2. Opening line: お世話になっております。(osewa ni natte orimasu) for business, or お元気ですか。/ いかがお過ごしですか。(ikaga osugoshi desu ka) for someone you know personally.
3. The content.

So in email, ogenki desu ka comes back into its own. "いかがお過ごしですか" (ikaga osugoshi desu ka, "How are you spending your days?") is the slightly more elegant version for letters and longer gaps.

Asking how someone is when they have been unwell

This is where ogenki desu ka and its relatives are most natural.

• もう大丈夫ですか (mou daijoubu desu ka) "Are you okay now?"
• 体調はいかがですか (taichou wa ikaga desu ka) "How is your health?" Taichou is physical condition. Polite and caring.
• 具合はどうですか (guai wa dou desu ka) "How are you feeling?" Guai is how one feels physically. Slightly less formal than taichou wa ikaga desu ka.
• お大事に (odaiji ni) "Take care of yourself." Said to someone who is ill or leaving the doctor's; the standard parting phrase for the unwell.

Pronunciation guide for the key phrases

Japanese is easier to pronounce than most learners fear, if you respect three rules: every syllable gets equal length, vowels are pure and short, and there is no English-style stress.

• お元気ですか (ogenki desu ka): o-ge-n-ki-de-su-ka. Seven even beats. The "u" in desu is barely voiced, so it comes out as "dess". Pitch rises slightly on "ka" because it is a question.
• 元気 (genki): ge-n-ki. Hard G. The "n" is its own beat, so it is closer to "ge-ng-ki" than "gen-ki".
• 最近どう (saikin dou): sa-i-ki-n-do-u. "Sai" rhymes with "sigh"; "dou" is a long "doh", held for two beats.
• おかげさまで (okagesama de): o-ka-ge-sa-ma-de. Hard G again. Keep every vowel short.
• お疲れ様です (otsukaresama desu): o-tsu-ka-re-sa-ma-de-su. The "tsu" is one sound, like the end of "cats" plus "oo", and the "u" in it is nearly silent, so it sounds like "ots-ka-re-sa-ma-dess".

The most common mistake is stressing the first syllable and lengthening it: "OH-genki". Say all the beats flat and even, like a metronome, and you will instantly sound more Japanese.

Common mistakes with how are you in Japanese

• Saying ogenki desu ka every day. It marks you as a textbook learner. Save it for reunions and letters; use otsukaresama desu at work and saikin dou with friends.
• Answering "genki desu ka?" with "genki desu ka." The question and the answer are different. Drop the ka: genki desu.
• Using anata (you) to bounce the question back. "Anata wa?" sounds distant or even confrontational. Use the person's name plus san, or sotchi wa? with friends.
• Pronouncing genki with a soft G. It is "get", not "gentle".
• Translating "I'm fine, thank you" word for word. "Genki desu, arigatou" is understandable but unnatural. The natural grateful reply is okagesama de.
• Expecting a "how are you" back. Japanese speakers often will not return the question. It is not rudeness; the ritual just does not exist in the same form. Move to a topic instead.

Practise it out loud before you need it

You can read this page and still freeze when a Japanese colleague says ohisashiburi desu and looks at you expectantly. The fix is repetition with your mouth, not your eyes.

1. Say the full table out loud twice, slowly, keeping the beats even.
2. Practise the three exchanges below until they come without thinking:

A: お久しぶりです！お元気ですか？ B: おかげさまで、元気です。〇〇さんは？ A: はい、元気です。

A: 元気？ B: うん、まあまあ。そっちは？ A: 忙しいけど、元気だよ。

A: 最近どう？ B: 相変わらずだよ。仕事はどう？ A: ぼちぼち。

3. Then do it with something that answers back and corrects you. SPAIKING's AI partner will run these exchanges with you, catch a soft G in genki or an English stress pattern on ogenki, and keep asking until the reply is automatic. The first time a real person asks, you want the words to already be in your mouth.