What does “Doumo” do?

It’s so useful yet it’s so difficult to explain what literally the word means.

But it is easier to think what does Doumo do.

What it does is to “deepen the gratitude or apology”

Making it more respectful in the these moments below:

Case 1 : gratitude

どうも　こんにちは。　doumo konnichiwa.

(Really) great to meet you.

どうも　はじめまして。 doumo hajimemashite.

(So good to be introduced) How do you do?

>>people now just say どうも to refer to “hello” or “nice to meet you”.

どうも　ありがとう。doumo arigatou.

Thank you very much.

>>People now just say どうも to refer to “thanks”.

in addition, some people say “Doumo desu” to make it more polite.

It’s short and casual if it is just “doumo”, but adding desu makes it possible to say this to older people or someone with respect. Off-course, it is better to say Doumo Arigatou Gozaimasu, but in many situation, you can use this “doumo-desu”.

Case 2 : apology

どうもすいません。doumo suimasen.

どうもごめんなさい doumo gomennasai.

(Really) sorry.

>>but you do not say Doumo to refer to sorry for short. For apology, you always need the word すいません or ごめんなさい.

よんでくれて、どうもありがとうございました。

yonde kurete, doumo arigatou gozaimashita.

Thanks for reading!

Doumo desu!

Hopefully, this was helpful. Please hit “like” button if this was helpful.

Please comments or email me directly if there is any questions.