How much do manners matter in Japan? Manners are everything and in this lesson, you will master several polite Japanese phrases.

You are going to learn how to say "thank you" and "I am sorry in Japanese".

And you will learn these phrases and more in three minutes.

So here are the three phrases? First we have ありがとうございます. "Thank you."

Next we have すみません - "Excuse me."

Here we have ごめんなさい - "I am sorry".

So, ありがとう is a well known expression meaning "thank you".

But there are more variations depending on the politeness level.

First we have ありがとうございます "thank you" あ、り、が、と、う、ご、ざ、い、ま、す。

ありがとうございます ございます increases the politeness level of the phrase.

Next we have すみません "I am sorry" or "Excuse me". す、み、ま、せ、ん。

And the final phrase is ごめんなさい - "I am sorry". ご、め、ん、な、さ、い

So ごめんなさい is a way to say "I am sorry".

So to review, here we have, ありがとうございます - "thank you."

すみません - "excuse me" or "I am sorry".

ごめんなさい - "I am sorry".

Time for Hiroko’s hints. See these phrases? Let’s shorten them. Ta-dah.

First we have どうも - "Thanks". Next we have ごめん - "Sorry".

Now be careful. These are informal phrases. So don’t use them with your teachers or in a business situation.

So どうも is short for どうもありがとう.

And ごめん is short for ごめんなさい Let’s practice.

First we have...

ありがとうございます。

Next we have...

ありがとう。

And finally we have...

どうも

すみません

ごめんなさい

ごめん。