Ittekimasu, itterasshai, tadaima, okaeri: what Japanese families say

Japanese families trade four set phrases at the front door, every day. Leaving the house, you say ittekimasu (行ってきます), “I’ll go, and come back”. Whoever is staying answers itterasshai (行ってらっしゃい), “go, and come back”. When you get home you call out tadaima (ただいま), “I’m back”, which literally means “just now”. And they welcome you in with okaeri (おかえり), “welcome home”. Ittekimasu is built from two kanji, 行, go, and 来, come, and okaeri hides a third, 帰, return.

Ittekimasu: “I’ll go, and come back”

行ってきます (ittekimasu) is two verbs joined together. 行って (itte) is the te-form of 行く (iku), to go, and きます (kimasu) is the polite form of 来る (kuru), to come. After a te-form, 来る often means “and come back”, so “go and come” is the everyday Japanese way to say “go and come back”. The phrase is a small promise that you’ll be home again. The きます is normally written in kana, though 行って来ます is also correct.

At work you’ll hear a humbler version, 行ってまいります (itte mairimasu), from someone heading out to see a client.

Itterasshai: “Go, and come back”

行ってらっしゃい (itterasshai) is the reply. It’s 行って (itte), go, plus いらっしゃい (irasshai), the polite request form of いらっしゃる (irassharu), a respectful verb that can mean “come”, “go” or “be”. The two are squeezed together, so the い of いらっしゃい drops out. The whole thing says “go, and come back”, and it’s usually written in hiragana: いってらっしゃい.

Tadaima: “Just now”

ただいま (tadaima) is short for ただいま帰りました (tadaima kaerimashita), “I’ve just now come home”. Only the “just now” survived. On its own, ただいま still means “right now” or “just now”, and you’ll hear that meaning in shop and station announcements. It can be written in kanji, as 只今, but as a greeting it’s usually written in kana.

Okaeri: “Welcome home”

おかえり (okaeri) is お帰り, from 帰る (kaeru), to go home or come home. The fuller version, おかえりなさい (okaerinasai), adds なさい (nasai), which turns a verb into a gentle request: “(please) come home”. It’s the same pattern as おやすみなさい (oyasuminasai), good night, which is literally “(please) rest”. おかえり is the relaxed form for family and friends; おかえりなさい is a little fuller and more polite.

What the kanji say

行 (kou, iku) began as a drawing of a crossroads, a place where streets meet. Today its two halves look like separate parts, but it started out as a single picture.

来 (rai, kuru) began as a drawing of a wheat plant, with its ear, leaves and roots. The word for “come” sounded similar in ancient Chinese, so the picture was borrowed to write it, as early as the oracle bones, the oldest Chinese writing. Wheat is now written with a related character, 麦 (mugi).

帰 (ki, kaeru) is the simplified form of 歸, and its right half, 帚, is a broom. Nobody is sure how the old parts first fitted together. The Shuowen Jiezi, a Chinese dictionary from around 100 CE, defines 歸 as a woman marrying into her husband’s family, and 帰 still has a rare old reading, とつぐ (totsugu), to marry into a family. Some modern scholars read the oldest forms another way: soldiers coming home after sweeping away the enemy.

How to use them

• 行ってきます！

  Ittekimasu!

  I'm off! See you later!

• 行ってらっしゃい。気をつけてね。

  Itterasshai. Ki o tsukete ne.

  See you later. Take care.

• ただいま！

  Tadaima!

  I'm home!

• おかえりなさい。

  Okaerinasai.

  Welcome home.

• 行ってまいります。

  Itte mairimasu.

  I'm heading out now. (polite, at work)

• They come in pairs. 行ってきます is answered with 行ってらっしゃい, and ただいま with おかえり. It’s easy to mix up the halves at first.
• Not only at home. Office workers use the same pairs when a colleague goes out to a meeting and comes back, and hotel staff often see guests off with the extra-polite いってらっしゃいませ (itterasshaimase).
• Spelling. いってらっしゃい and ただいま are usually written in hiragana; 行ってきます and お帰りなさい often keep their kanji.

Words with the same kanji

Remember it

Picture the crossroads (行) at the end of your street. In the morning you walk out through it, promising to come back (来). In the evening you walk back through it, and you’re home (帰): ただいま.

The kanji in this lesson

Tap Draw it to watch the stroke order. Numbers show where each stroke starts.

Draw it

Draw it

Draw it

Sources

• Jisho (JMdict): 行ってきます
• Jisho (JMdict): ただいま
• Wiktionary: 來 (character origin)
• CUHK Multi-function Chinese Character Database: 歸

Written by the Chirami team with the help of AI, then checked against JMdict and KANJIDIC2. How we write lessons. Spotted a mistake? Email support@brightsmilesolutions.org.