Okagesama de is the Japanese expression for ‘thanks to you’, explained

What does “okagesama de” mean in Japanese?

Japanese people often say “okagesama de” to mean ‘thanks to your help’, ‘thanks to your support’, or just ‘thanks to you’. In this blog post, I will explain this expression in detail based on its components. And also, I will explain how Japanese people use it through examples. Let’s get started!

Contents

• Definition and meanings of “okagesama de”
• Components of “okagesama de”
• Kage: a Japanese metaphor for work, help, or effort
  • Example #1: how to use “okage”
  • Example #2: how to use “okagesama”
  • Example #3: conversation using “okagesama”
• Summary

Definition and meanings of “okagesama de”

Let me start with the definition and meanings of “okagesama de”.

• okagesama de – お陰様で (おかげさまで) : a Japanese expression for ‘thanks to your help’, ‘thanks to your support’, or just ‘thanks to you’.

Its definition and meanings are not so difficult, I think. To understand this expression more clearly, however, let me explain its components in detail, one by one.

Components of “okagesama de”

“Okagesama de” consists of the following parts:

• o – お : a prefix making its following word polite.
• kage – 陰 (かげ) : a noun meaning ‘shadow’ or ‘shade’ in Japanese. This can also work as a plural noun. Learn more about Japanese plural. Another kanji expression, “影“, can also be used, but “陰” is more often used for “okagesama de”.
• sama – 様 (さま) : a suffix widely used after a name to make its honorific expression.
• de – で : a case particle used to indicate a means, method, or way to do something. This is often translated as “with” or “by”.

From these components, we can understand that “okagesama” is a polite and honorific expression for a shadow. In addition, due to the role of “de”, we can understand that the shadow is a means to do something. Here, the question naturally arises: what is the shadow? To tell the truth, it is a metaphor for someone’s help, support, or presence. So, “okagesama de” is an expression implying that someone can do something with someone else’s help.

I’ve explained the components one by one. To understand the expression more deeply, however, let me explain more about “kage”.

Kage: a Japanese metaphor for work, help, or effort

Again, but “kage” is a noun meaning ‘shadow’ or ‘shade’ in Japanese. This can also work as a metaphor for a dark side of a thing or an invisible side. In the expression, “kage” works as a metaphor and expresses someone’s help, support, work, or effort we can not see. So, its polite form, “okage”, can be used to express gratitude to someone’s help, support, work, or effort hidden on the invisible side.

Then, let me explain how to use “okage” through the example sentence below.

Example #1: how to use “okage”

Below are the new words used in the example sentence.

• anata – あなた : a pronoun meaning ‘you’ in Japanese.
• no – の : a case particle used to join two nouns. Normally the preceding noun can work to modify the meaning of the following noun. In the example, this particle joins “anata” and “okage”. The formed phrase literally means ‘your shadow’, but works as a metaphor meaning ‘thanks to you’.
• watashi – 私 (わたし) : a pronoun meaning ‘I’ in Japanese.
• wa – は : a binding particle working as a case marker or topic marker. In the example, this is used after “watashi” to make the subject word in the sentence.
• genki – 元気 (げんき) : one conjugation of the na-adjective, “genkina”, which means ‘fine’ or such in Japanese. In the example, it has been conjugated for the better connection with its following word.
• desu – です : an auxiliary verb used after a noun or adjective to make it polite. Probably this is well known as a part of Japanese desu form. In the example, this is used after “genki” to make it sound polite.

This is a typical usage of “okage”. In this example, it works as a part of the commonly-used expression, “anata no okage de”, which means ‘thanks to you’ in Japanese.

“Okage” sounds polite, but we can make it more polite by adding the honorific suffix, “sama”. Next, then, let me explain how to use “okagesama” through the example sentence below.

Example #2: how to use “okagesama”

This is a typical usage of “okagesama”. It sounds much more polite than “okage”. Since it already has the nuance of ‘thanks to you’, no possessive case needs to be used before it.

When we make these polite expressions, we need to be careful with the particular order of the components. First, we need to add “o” to “kage”. And then, we add the honorific suffix, “sama”, to “okage”. We cannot add “sama” before making “okage”.

Example #3: conversation using “okagesama”

Next, then, let me explain how to use “okagesama” in conversations. Below is the conversation between the two Japanese, “Haru” and “Aki”.

This example conversation shows how Japanese people use “okagesama”. Honestly speaking, the translation, “thanks to you, I’m fine”, is a bit weird, but the original nuance of the Japanese sentence is reflected well. In real conversations, just saying “okagesama de” is very understandable and acceptable. In fact, a lot of Japanese people use this abbreviated form to mean ‘thanks to you, I’m fine’.

Summary

In this blog post, I’ve explained the expression, “okagesama de”, in detail. And also, I’ve explained its components through the example sentences. Let me summarize them as follows.

• kage – 陰 (かげ) : a noun meaning ‘shadow’ or ‘shade’ in Japanese. This can also work as a plural noun. This can be a metaphor for someone’s help, support, or presence.
• okage – お陰 (おかげ) : the polite expression of “kage”. This can express someone’s respect or gratitude to someone else’s help, support, work, or effort hidden on the invisible side.
• okagesama – お陰様 (おかげさま) : the honorific form of “okage”. We can consider this as a very polite expression of “kage”. Japanese people often use it together with the case particle, “de”, to mean ‘thanks to you’.

Hope my explanations are understandable and helpful for Japanese learners.