おはようございます

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. おはようございます、社長。▶ —
   Good morning, sir.
2. おはようございます、朝早いですね。▶ —
   Good morning. You're early today.

Collocations

Mnemonic

おはようございます ohayou gozaimasu — お (honorific) + 早い (hayai, early) → お早う + ございます (polite "to be"). Literal: "(you are) early". Standard greeting at Japanese 朝礼 (chourei, morning meetings) — the whole staff says it in unison. Hierarchy: おはよう (friend) < おはようございます (workplace, polite). Unlike こんにちは and こんばんは, only the morning greeting has a gozaimasu-extended formal form — making it the only time-of-day greeting with explicit register layers. One word maps Japanese time cognition onto social hierarchy.

Quick check

1. Why don't こんにちは / こんばんは have a gozaimasu form?

   • Already end in particle ~は as truncated sentences — cannot attach more polite copula
   • Not meeting topic
   • Time difference
   • Historical accident