How to Say No Problem in Japanese. Learn it Now!

Hey everybody, it’s time to learn a new Japanese phrase. But if you thought that I was only going to tell you how to say No Problem in Japanese with a single phrase, then you’d better prepare yourself to be blown away!

This one little phrase actually has a lot of Japanese counterparts that you can select from depending on the circumstances that you use it in.

But that’s the kicker, isn’t it? You have to know when to use each phrase, and when to not use them too.

Let’s take a look at the phrases and how they can be used to tell a person “no problem,” even when those aren’t necessarily the exact words you’re using.

A Few Japanese Phrases for No Problem

Let’s start it off with the actual phrase that you came to this post for, and then we will go over some alternates that I think you will find value in knowing.

• No problem
  問題ない
  mondai nai

This is perhaps the most literal way to say it, since 問題 means problem in Japanese and ない means there is not.

This is also the casual way to say it. If you were in a more formal situation you might change the ない (nai) to ありません (arimasen) to reflect that additional level of politeness.

Here’s an other common phrase to use:

• It’s doesn’t matter.
  構いません
  kamaimasen

This one can be used in those same situations where you would normally say no problem, and it will have the same basic effect.

You can change this one to 構わない (kamawa nai) to make it informal, or even 構んよ (kaman yo) which is used in some Japanese dialects and has that friendly kind of warmth to it.

• Don’t mention it
  とんでも無い
  tondemo nai

When you do something nice for someone else and they thank you for it, you can use this phrase to reply to them. Again, you can change that 無い (nai) part to ありません (arimasen) in order to make it more polite, which is something you would want to do when talking with people who aren’t family or friends.

• Don’t worry about it
  気にしないで
  ki ni shinai de

There is also another way to say this same phrase:

• Don’t worry about it
  心配しないで
  shinpai shinai de

And one that you no doubt have heard while watching anime is:

• It’s okay (it’s not a problem)
  大丈夫
  daijōbu

To make this particular one more formal, just add the copula です (desu) to the end of it.

Wow, talk about a lot of phrases!

Japanese Phrases to say You’re Welcome

Sometimes we use the English phrase no problem when what we actually mean is you’re welcome. Here are some ways to say it in Japanese, in case that’s what you were actually looking to find out:

• You’re welcome
  どういたしまして
  dō itashimashite

This is the most common way to say it. But there are more casual ones such as:

• No, no (it’s no problem)
  いいえ、いいえ
  iie, iie

And I have even heard these two combined into one single phrase as:

• Oh no, you are very welcome!
  いいえ、どういたしまして !
  iie, dō itashimashite

Hopefully you will remember these last few since the words please and thank you are some of the most useful words to learn in any language.

Japanese Phrases that use English Loan Words

It seems like everywhere you look, there are English phrases being used in Japanese. I’ve talked before about the phrase OMG, and now we’ll be looking at NP.

• I don’t mind
  ドンマイン
  don main

A pretty self explanatory one here. Actually, I heard that this was a phrase from a guy I was listening to, but I’ve never actually heard it used by a native Japanese person. If you’ve heard it used before, let me know in the comments section below.

Update: I actually just heard ドンマイン used in Harukana Receive, Episode 2.

• It’s no problem.
  ノープロブレム
  nō puroburemu

Again, you pretty much know this one as soon as you hear it. The only thing you should be aware of is that these English loan word phrases would all be considered informal, so best to only use them with family and friends.

And the one that always makes me laugh:

• OK
  オーケー
  ōkē

Words. Gotta love ’em!