Word of the Week: 久しぶりです

It’s time for Word of the Week again! Last time we looked at a Japanese word or phrase beginning with ‘ha’ (は), and focussed on the phrase 裸の付き合い (hadaka no tsukiai), meaning ‘naked friendship’. This week I’m looking for a word or phrase beginning with ‘hi’ (ひ). A big thank you to the one person who joined in with their suggestion this week (again – where is everyone?):

Japan Australia suggested ‘hisashiburi desu’ (久しぶりです), ‘long time no see; and ‘hidoi’ (ひどい), ‘terrible’ or ‘horrible’.

It’s not easy to think of ideas this week, so I will take one of the great suggestions above and write about…

久しぶりです

(hisashiburi desu)

A few weeks ago I wrote about the word ‘natsukashii’ (懐かしい), and these two words do often go hand in hand. ‘Hisashiburi’ basically means ‘long time no see’ or ‘it’s been a while’, and can be said to people or about places, foods, etc.

For example, when you see a friend you haven’t seen for a long time you can say to each other: ‘hisashiburi desu’. If you’re telling someone else that you met the friend you haven’t seen for a while yesterday, you can say: ‘kino, hisashiburi ni tomodachi ni aimashita’ (昨日、久しぶりに友だちに会いました。).

If you do something you haven’t done for a long time or go to a place you haven’t been to for a long time, you can also use ‘hisashiburi’. You might say ‘hisashiburi’ as you take a sip of that coffee you haven’t had in ages, or when you arrive back at your family home after a long time away.

If you have reason to be more polite, you can add an ‘o’ in front of ‘hisashiburi’: ‘ohisashiburi’ (お久しぶり). This is something used more often by women than men. If you need to sound very formal, or if you are writing a letter, you should use ‘gobusata shite imasu’ (ご無沙汰しています) instead.

So, a nice easy phrase today. It’s not so easy to illustrate though! Here’s a Rilakkuma picture to brighten up the post…

久しぶり Rilakkuma!

☆★☆

Next week’s post will be about a word or phrase beginning with ‘fu’ (ふ), so please leave your suggestions below. The word can be a verb, adjective or expression, but no nouns please! For example, ‘fuwafuwa’ (フワフワ) meaning ‘fluffy’, would be acceptable, but ‘Fukuoka’ (福岡), the place, would not. I look forward to reading your ideas! (*^_^)v