VocabularyJLPT N5 · core

どうも

どうも
hepburn doumo

somehow, very much, thanks

Part of speech · adverb / expression

Pattern visualization

no decomposition available

Examples

  1. どうも、ありがとうございます。
    Thanks (lit. "indeed").
  2. どうも、田中です。
    Hi, I'm Tanaka.

Collocations

どうも (doumo, multi-purpose particle)どうもありがとう (doumo arigatou, "thanks a lot")どうもすみません (doumo sumimasen, "really sorry")どうもどうも (doumo doumo, casual greeting)どうも〜ない (doumo ~nai, "somehow not")

Mnemonic

どうも doumo — Japanese's multipurpose adverb / interjection. Etymology: どう (how) + も (too) = "somehow / anyway" — a conversational lubricant. Six uses: (1) casual hello (どうも、田中です), (2) emphasizing thanks (どうもありがとう), (3) emphasizing apology (どうもすみません), (4) "somehow / I get the feeling" (どうも変だ, somehow strange), (5) negation intensifier (どうも〜ない, somehow not), (6) light farewell. Foreign learners get tripped up — context decides meaning. Native speakers can say "どうもどうも" alone for any of greeting / thanks / apology — social lubricant. PATCH-4 v2: multipurpose lemmas like doumo live as a single slug under strict diff.

Quick check

  1. Meaning difference between どうもありがとう and ありがとう?

Listed inJLPT N5 · core
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