A lot of everyday Japanese is not built from grammar. It is a set of fixed phrases, each one tied to a moment: walking into a room, leaving before your colleagues, coming back from lunch.
The Conversation and Expression section tests these constantly. The question is never what the phrase means. It is whether you know the moment it belongs to. Here are the ones worth knowing cold, grouped by when you use them.
Arriving and leaving
しつれいします - said as you enter a room, especially an office or a superior’s room, and as you leave one. Also said before hanging up the phone. Literally “I am being rude”, in the sense of “excuse me for interrupting”.
しつれいしました - the past form, said as you leave a room after your business is done. In practice, many people use しつれいします for both.
おさきにしつれいします - said when you leave work before other people. This is one of the most-tested phrases on the paper. The reply is おつかれさまでした.
おじゃまします - said as you enter someone’s home. On leaving, おじゃましました.
A classic wrong option for “you are leaving before your section head” is おつかれさまでした. It is the right words, but it is what they say to you.
At work, through the day
おつかれさまです - the all-purpose workplace greeting. You say it when you pass a colleague in the corridor, when you start a phone call with someone from your company, and when someone finishes a task. At the end of the day, おつかれさまでした.
ごくろうさまです - similar, but said by a senior to someone junior, or to a delivery driver. Do not say it to your supervisor. If an option uses ごくろうさま towards a superior, it is there to be wrong.
よろしくおねがいします - said when you start working with someone, when you ask a favour, and at the end of a self-introduction. It means something like “I am counting on you”, and it covers a great deal of ground.
おまたせしました - “sorry to have kept you waiting”. Said when you come back to someone who has been waiting, however briefly. Shop and restaurant staff say it all day.
しょうしょうおまちください - “please wait a moment”. The polite version of ちょっとまってください, used with customers.
かしこまりました - “certainly”. The polite way to accept an instruction from a customer or a superior. わかりました is fine with colleagues; かしこまりました is what you say at a hotel desk.
Going out and coming back
These come in pairs, and the exam likes to ask for the second half.
| You say | They reply | When |
|---|---|---|
| いってきます | いってらっしゃい | Leaving home, or leaving the workplace on an errand |
| ただいま | おかえりなさい | Coming back |
| いただきます | - | Before eating |
| ごちそうさまでした | - | After eating, or to someone who paid |
いってきます is not only for home. Leaving the office to visit a customer, you can say it to your colleagues, and they will say いってらっしゃい. When you come back, ただいまもどりました is the polite form.
Apologies and care
すみません - excuse me, sorry, and also thank you, when someone has gone to trouble for you.
もうしわけありません - a more serious and formal apology. Use it to a customer or a superior when something has actually gone wrong.
おそくなってすみません - sorry I am late. Note the reason comes first.
おだいじに - “take care of yourself”, said to someone who is ill or injured. In care work and at a clinic you hear it constantly. You do not say it to someone who is merely tired.
How the exam asks about them
The questions follow a few shapes:
- A situation, then a few things you might say. “You are going out to the post office for your manager. What do you say to your colleagues?” The answer is いってきます.
- Half a pair, then a gap. A colleague says おさきにしつれいします. You say ( ). The answer is おつかれさまでした.
- The wrong person’s line. One option is what the other person would say. いってらっしゃい is a lovely phrase, but not from the person leaving.
For every phrase, learn three things: the moment, who says it, and the reply. A phrase learnt without its moment is the one you will mis-place on the day.
Practise them in context
Mock exam 1 (first weeks in Japan) has the everyday pairs. Mock exam 3 (nursing care) and mock exam 7 (hotel) lean on the workplace and customer phrases. The answer guides, such as the mock exam 7 answers, say who would say each wrong option and when.
For the section as a whole, see the Conversation and Expression section. For the polite forms behind かしこまりました and もうしわけありません, see keigo basics.