Ittekimasu and Tadaima: Leaving and Coming Home

The set of four

The phrases come in two pairs, and each pair is a call and a response. Learners often know tadaima but forget that the person at home is expected to answer, and the answer matters as much as the call.

Children learn the set before they learn to read, which is why it feels so automatic to Japanese speakers and so noticeable when a housemate skips it.

What the words literally mean

Ittekimasu is itte, from iku, to go, plus kimasu, to come: I will go and come back. The coming back is built into the phrase, which is why it carries a small promise and why it is not used when you are leaving for good.

Itterasshai uses the honorific irassharu, so the person staying is politely telling you to go and return. Tadaima is short for tadaima kaerimashita, I have just now returned, and okaeri is short for okaeri nasai, an honorific instruction to come home.

The same ritual at work

Offices use the set whenever someone leaves the building on business and comes back. It tells everyone where you are without a formal report, and colleagues reply automatically without looking up.

The polite versions are the safe choice. Otsukaresama desu often replaces okaeri nasai when you return, because you have just done some work.

Homestays, dorms and share houses

In a homestay the set is one of the first things host families notice. Saying it tells them you are out or back, and skipping it can make you seem distant even if you are friendly in every other way.

In dorms and share houses it works the same way among housemates. Add one useful line after ittekimasu and the ritual becomes practical communication.

Saying it to an empty home

Many people who live alone still say tadaima when they open the door. It marks the shift from outside to home, the same way taking off shoes does, and nobody finds it odd.

It is also said to pets, and in some homes to a family altar or a photograph of a relative who has died. In that setting the word is less a habit than a quiet way of keeping someone included in daily life.

For learners it is a free daily speaking rep. Saying the set out loud, even alone, keeps it automatic for the day you have someone to say it to.

Mistakes and substitutes

The most common error is using the set where you do not belong. A guest leaving a friend's apartment is not going to come back to it as home, so ittekimasu sounds odd; the right phrase is ojama shimashita.

The second is using sayōnara at the front door of your own home, which sounds like a long parting. The third is forgetting to reply when someone else says tadaima.

• Your own home or workplace: the set of four.
• Someone else's home: ojama shimasu and ojama shimashita.
• Leaving for good: o-sewa ni narimashita, not ittekimasu.
• Always answer tadaima with okaeri.