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

Japanese people often say “okagesama de” in daily conversation. This is the Japanese expression for ‘thanks to your help’, ‘thanks to your support’ or just ‘thanks to you’. In this blog post, I will explain its meaning in detail based on its components. And also, I will explain how Japanese people use it through some 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 of okage
• Example of okagesama
• Example conversation using okagesama
• Okagesama de as a sarcastic expression
• Summary

Definition and meanings of “okagesama de”

First of all, let me start with a definition and meanings of “okagesama de”.

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

Its definition and meanings are relatively simple. In order to understand it better, however, let me explain its components in detail.

Components of “okagesama de”

Below are components of “okagesama de”.

• o – お : a prefix which is often used to make a polite expression of its following word. Depending the word used together, another prefix, “go”, needs to be used instead. Learn more about them through a word, omotenashi.
• kage – 陰 (かげ) : a noun meaning ‘shadow’ or ‘shade’. It can also be used as the plural. Learn more about Japanese singular and plural. Another kanji expression, “影”, can also be used, but “陰” is more widely used for “okagesama de”.
• sama – 様 (さま) : a suffix which is usually put after a name to make its honorific expression.
• de – で : a case particle which is put after a noun to express a means, method or way to do something.

From these components, we can understand that “okagesama” is a polite and honorific expression for someone’s shadow. With help of the case particle, “de”, it can be understood as a means to do something. So, the expression, “okagesama de”, implies that someone does something by using a shadow of someone else as a means. Or perhaps I should say, someone’s shadow enables someone else to do something.

Apparently, for a deep understanding of this expression, we need to know what a shadow is for Japanese people.

Kage, a Japanese metaphor for work, help or effort

Basically, “kage” means ‘shadow’ or ‘shade’ in Japanese. It can also be used to mean a dark side of things in general. In this regard, it’s quite similar to the English words. In addition, in Japanese, it can also be used as a metaphor for work, help or effort made by someone. So, in a way, the polite and honorific expression of it can be understood as respect or gratitude to someone’s work, help or effort.

The example below shows how Japanese people use the polite expression, “okage”, to show their respect to others.

Example of okage

Below are new words.

• minasan – 皆さん (みなさん) : a noun meaning ‘everyone’, ‘everybody’, ‘you all’ or some such in Japanese. It’s widely considered as a polite expression of “min’na”.
• no – の : a case particle put after a noun to make its possessive case. In the example, it is put after the noun, “minasan”, to make its possessive case, “minasan no”.
• okage – お陰 (おかげ) : a polite expression of the noun, “kage”, which is a metaphor for work, help or effort done by someone. In the example, “minasan”, namely, “you all” is “someone”.
• de – で : a case particle put after a noun to express a means, method or way to do something. In the example, it is put after the noun, “okage”, to express a means that enables “I” to do well.
• genkide – 元気で (げんきで) : one conjugation of the na-adjective “genkina” which means ‘healthy’ or ‘fine’.
• yatte – やって : a te form of the verb, “yaru”, which is widely used to mean ‘to do’ or ‘to work’.
• masu – ます : an auxiliary verb put after a verb to make it polite. In the example, it is put after the te formed verb, “yatte”, to make it sound polite. Most probably, it is well known for a part of Japanese masu form.

This is a typical usage of “okage” which is a polite expression of “kage”. In most cases, it’s used to mean someone’s work, help or effort in a polite way.

We can make an honorific form of “okage” by adding the honorific suffix, “sama”, at its end. Below is an example.

Example of okagesama

We can make the honorific expression of “okage” by adding the honorific suffix, “same”. Below is the example showing how Japanese people use it.

Below is a new word.

• okagesama – お陰様 (おかげさま) : a honorific expression of “okage”. So, in a way, it is a polite and honorific form of “kage”.

In this example, “okagesama” is used as a very polite expression for someone’s work, help or effort. It sounds much more polite than “okage”.

Normally, no possessive noun needs to be added before “okagesama” because it already has a nuance of ‘thanks to you’ or ‘because of you’. Adding a possessive noun could make the whole phrase sound weird.

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

Example conversation using okagesama

Here, I will explain “okagesama” again through a conversation between two Japanese, Haru and Aki.

Here is a new word.

• desu – です : an auxiliary verb put after a noun or adjective to make it polite. Probably, it is well known for a part of Japanese desu form.

This example conversation exactly shows how Japanese people use “okagesama”. Honestly, the translation, “thanks to you, I’m fine”, is a bit weird, but the original nuance of the Japanese sentence is reflected well. In actual conversation, 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’.

By the way, sometimes, being too polite can be rude. This rule is also valid for “okagesama de”. So, we need to be careful with its use.

Okagesama de as a sarcastic expression

Japanese people love sarcasm. To tell the truth, “okagesama de” is a typical sarcastic expression. When someone hasn’t done anything yet, it can be a perfect sarcasm. Below is an example conversation.

Perhaps, this example would be surprising because it’s completely the same as the last one. Yet, we need to be aware how sarcasm works. Sarcastic expressions often look completely the same as ordinary ones. This doesn’t happen only in Japanese, but in other languages as well.

If Haru in the example hasn’t done anything yet to support Aki’s health, “okagesama de genki desu” can work as a perfect sarcasm. Aki is saying “Thanks to you, I’m fine”, but in reality, Haru hasn’t done anything for her.

Understanding sarcastic expressions is sometimes very difficult. It highly depends on knowledge of language and culture. Therefore, perhaps, the example conversation above could sound weird to Japanese learners. However, knowing how Japanese sarcastic expressions work would be helpful for them to avoid possible confusion or misunderstanding.

Summary

So far, I’ve explained the expression, “okagesama de”, in detail. And also, I’ve explained its components through some examples. Let me summarize them as follows.

• kage – 陰 (かげ) : a noun meaning ‘shadow’ or ‘shade”. It can be used as a metaphor for work, help or effort done by someone.
• okage – お陰 (おかげ) : a polite expression of the noun, “kage”. It is widely used to show respect or gratitude to work, help or effort done by someone.
• okagesama – お陰様 (おかげさま) : a honorific form of “okage”. In a way, we can consider it as a very polite expression of “kage”. Japanese people often use it together with the case particle, “de”, to mean ‘thanks to you’. Depending on the situation and context, it can also be used as a sarcastic expression.

Hope my explanations are understandable and helpful for Japanese learners to improve their skills.