Saying and asking a name in Japanese: アナです, お名前は？

Level A1

Saying and asking a name in Japanese: アナです, お名前は？

You've just met someone at a language class, and you want to know each other's names. In Japanese that takes three short pieces: your name + です (desu), お名前は？ (Onamae wa?) to ask for theirs, and よろしくお願いします (yoroshiku onegai shimasu) to close. You don't need a word for “I” or “you” here, because the situation already shows who's meant.

Before you start: a greeting and a way to ask again

An introduction usually starts with a greeting: こんにちは (konnichiwa) works during the day. If you don't catch something, say すみません、もう一度お願いします (sumimasen, mō ichido onegai shimasu), “sorry, once more, please”. It's handy with a name you've never heard before. Keep an eye on its last part, お願いします (onegai shimasu): it comes back in this lesson.

  • こんにちは。

    Hello!

  • formal

    すみません、もう一度(いちど)お願(ねが)いします。

    Pardon?

Model: meeting at a language class

Ana is meeting a man called Tanaka (田中, たなか) for the first time. Listen once without reading. She gives her name before she asks for his, and she has to ask him to repeat it. Notice what's missing: nobody says “I” or “you”.

Saying your name: name + です

Put your name before です (desu) and the sentence is complete: アナです (Ana desu), “I'm Ana”. You don't need a word for “I”, because you're the one speaking, and です stays the same whatever the name. Its final u is usually very soft, so it sounds close to “dess”.

Names from other countries are normally written in katakana, one of the Japanese scripts, and they change a little to fit Japanese sounds. Leo is レオ, written “Reo” in romaji, Japanese in Latin letters, because Japanese has one sound, somewhere between English l and r, for both letters. Other names work the same way: Emma is エマ (Ema), Tom is トム (Tomu). Japanese names are usually written in kanji, characters that came from Chinese, like 田中 (たなか, Tanaka).

アナです

Asking the name: お名前は？

お名前は？ (Onamae wa?) literally says only “(your) name…?”. The rest stays unsaid, and it's clear because you've just given your own name. 名前 (namae) means “name”, お adds respect, and は here is read “wa”, not “ha”. Let your voice rise a little at the end.

It's a bit like “Your name?” in English, which can sound curt, but the お keeps this polite. So keep the お with someone you've just met: 名前は？ without it sounds blunt. Don't use お名前 to talk about your own name, though. For that you just say アナです.

アナです。お名前は？

Closing the introduction: よろしくお願いします

よろしくお願いします (yoroshiku onegai shimasu) closes a self-introduction, and the other person often says the same thing back, usually with a small bow. “Pleased to meet you” is the closest English, but it isn't an exact match. The Japanese looks ahead, asking for the other person's goodwill from now on, so you'll also hear it when people start working together or ask for a favor. Its second half is the お願いします from もう一度お願いします.

At a first meeting you'll also hear はじめまして (hajimemashite, literally “for the first time”), which comes at the start of an introduction. For now you only need to recognize it.

アナです。よろしくお願いします

Your turn, and a summary

Leo and Mia are meeting at the same class. Cover the lines below. As Leo, give your name and ask for hers; as Mia, give yours; then close the introduction, and only then check. Now do it again with your own name.

In short: name + です says who you are, お名前は？ asks for the other person's name, and よろしくお願いします closes the introduction. If you miss a name, すみません、もう一度お願いします gets it repeated.

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