What Does Irrashimasen mean?

2 Answers

• It’s Irasshaimase.

  It’s often translated in English as “welcome”.

  The real meaning however is the polite form of “to be/come/go” which in it’s dictionary form is “irassharu”. You can kinda say it means “you’ve come/arrived” but this won’t make sense in English, it’s really a “hard to translate” word.

• I don’t know what the “Ouran High School Host Club” is so I am not sure in what context “irasshaimasen” is being used.

  This word comes from the Japanese verb “irassharu”. This is a very polite verb and it can be used to mean “to come”, “to go”, “to be (exist)”. The verb is used when you are talking about the actions of others and never used when describing or referring to yourself.

  Assuming that you heard correctly and then “irasshaimasen” would be the present tense negative form of “irassharu”. So, depending on the context it could mean things like “is not going/will not go(come)”, “is not here”.

  However, it sounds like that the Ouran High School Club might be some lind of TV show. And, since you said they always use this expression at the end, I think what you might be hearing is “irasshai” or maybe even “itte irasshai”.

  “Irasshai” is an imperative form of “irassharu”. It means something like “Come (in)!”, “Go!”. The expression “irasshamase” is just another form of “irassharu” that means the same thing as “irasshai”. It’s just a tad bit more polite.

  You often hear “irasshai” or “irasshaimase” when you enter a store/business in Japan. Basically, the people (employees) are welcoming you and saying something like “Please come in!”. However, I don’t think this quite the way they are using it on the Ouran High School Host Club because they are saying at the end of the program.

  There are some idiomatic expressions that Japanese people use when the leave for/come back from school/work/whatever each day. Usually, the person leaving says something like “itte kimasu” (which loosely means “I’m going out for a while but I’ll be back later”) and then the person inside (perhaps parent/spouse) says something like “itte irasshai” (which means something like “OK. Go and come back! (Have a nice day!)”). Some people drop the “itte” and just say “irasshai”.

  So, this is what I think you might be hearing. The show is over and the Ouran High School Host Club is saying “itte irasshai” or “irrashai” (something like “Thanks for watching. Come back next time”).

  That’s my guess. A little wordy, but hopefully you found it helpful.