How are you in japanese?

Question

Anata wa Ikaga desu ka?

Is that it? Is the anata wa needed? I hear it as ikaga desu ka sometimes but wouldn't you need anata for the "are" as in how are you?

anata wa=you

ikaga=how

Also is are not needed? Do the Japanese not use are?... sorry for the dumb questions, it's hard to learn Japanese alone from a tape lesson ^^.

Answer 1

Normally, people don't say "anata wa ikaga desu ka?"  even in a formal situation.

-Ogenki desu ka?  is nice and polite.

-Genki desu ka?  is good enough.

-Genki?  is casual, among friends.

In Japanese language, often "I" ,"I am", "you", "you are" etc. are omitted  unless really necessary. Your questions are not at all dumb, it's just that English and Japanese are so grammatically different from each other.

"Ikaga desu ka?" is used more in scenes like,

offering something to someone (Would you like some?)

asking someone if they like it (How do you like it?)

Answer 2

that's depend on situation that you are stood.

If you want to say how are you to a Friend which haven't see a while , you should say お元気ですか , but you say いかがですか to a person you see often.

Answer 3

It is 'Ogenki desu ka?' but I don't really ask that in my daily life, I write in letters to grandparents and teacheres.

Or I say when I haven't seen someone for ages.

'Genki ni shite imashita ka?" (polite)  Have you been well?

'Genki datta?' (casual)  Were you good?

'Dou shiteta?' (casual)  How have you been?

datta = casual and short form of 'deshita ka' (was/were)

dou = how

shiteta = casual and short form of 'shite imashita' (have been)

When someone doesn't look well,

'Dou ka shimashita ka?' (polite)

'Dou ka shita?' (casual)  What's wrong?

'Daijobu?' (casual)  Are you ok?

Japanese don't really use you in conversation. In letters, ads, books, reports, and such things you will find the word often.

Instead of 'anata' we call their names but only some times. Also he and she.

If other people understand who I am talking about or asking, I don't say it.

Answer 4

I use the more informal "Genki desu ka?" when talking with Japanese-speaking friends

Answer 5

We don't use "Anata" so often in Japanese daily conversation.  Yes, "anata" means "you" but calling someone (which is not so familiar with you) by anata will be considered to be impolite.

So you can say: o genki desu ka ? (を元気ですか)

we use "o" to make our sentence more polite.

genki = health

And this sentence means "how are you?"

or you can say it more casually by" dou desuka? (どうですか)

dou = how

but sometimes people don't directly understand that you want to ask "how are you" by this sentence.  I prefer the first one.