"こんばん"

Translation: This evening

[mewtrino]

今晩

[jay.hammer]

Is it always 'this evening' ? How about just 'evening' as a single word? Duo says it has to be THIS evening.

[OKAMOTO_Yusuke]

こん (今) corresponds to "this". Thus it should be "this evening", not (simply) "evening".

[Paralars1]

yes, it is this evening. evening or night in general is よる

[Bwizdam]

What about gogo? Would that only refer to a specific time like saying pm?

[saliast]

But.. Konban wa is "good evening". Not "this evening"... Is it?

[Shinobusagi]

Yes, they're basically is the same: 今晩は. In "good evening" it's just idiomatic. The same goes for こんにちは "good afternoon/hello" which -in kanji- is the same as "today": 今日.

Also, see hollt693's comment

[Yirzmo]

I'm probably in the minority for wishing this course used MORE kanji--but seeing the kanji for both of these make them so much clearer!

[hollt693]

Just a note: neither こんにちは "good day" nor こんばんは "good evening" are written in kanji when they're used as greetings. With kanji, 今日は(きょうは) means "regarding this day", and 今晩は(こんばんは) means "regarding this evening".

[CheesyCakeu]

Whoa I never thought that there was a similar characteristic between the two greetings! :O

[saliast]

Or is the difference in the kanji?

[JasonH565]

Well, you can say that expressions tend to use kana instead of kanji.

[Dante.I.]

Is there a difference between evening and afternoon. Is evening american? Where I'm from morning leads to afternoon which leads into night.

[Shinobusagi]

There is, namely that the latter follows the former, and precedes night. If your morning leads straight into your afternoon, then when's noon?

[Dante.I.]

Sorry, was so hung up on the concept of evening not being what I thought it was that I forgot to put noon in the list.

And thanks for clearing this up for me, have a lingot.

[Shinobusagi]

ありがとう。

[MistmanX]

Okay, so, thought... If こんばん means "this evening", might あんばん or そんばん mean "that evening"?

[hE4S2]

Only こんばん is valid, the rest has no meaning at all

[Shun-suke]

こんばん(今晩) is one word. We sometime use このばん(この晩) as the same mannar as あの晩, その晩. The difference between 今晩 and この晩 is something similar the difference between "tonight" and "this night" (I don't know the word means "toevening")

[Shinobusagi]

An interesting thought (good pattern recognition!), but the こん in こんばん stems from a different kanji than the こ~ (and subsequently あ~, そ~, and ど~) in other "this/that" indicators. The latter ones do not include an ん

[BlueRaja1]

I think the fact that この/これ and 今（こん） sound similar is a coincidence. Maybe(?) there's some historical context but it's not important - treat them as separate words.

[arehandoro23]

And afternoon?

[Keiraan]

I put evening and it said incorrect. That it means 'tonight' even though all of you are saying it means 'this evening'. O__o

[V2Blast]

It's not just "evening", but rather "this evening".

[nich227]

今晩

[Shy532436]

Why is the answer 'this' evening when it is just "evening".

[Shinobusagi]

Try reading (at least) the top comment before asking duplicate questions.

[TKOMak]

Is "this night" a valid translation?

[ThatCoolKid_69]

Would this not be translated as "tonight" in English? That's my understanding. Or is 今夜 (Kon'ya) used for "tonight" more commonly?

[Cryopneuma]

My mind is so blown. "Good evening" is literally "On the topic of this evening..." Same with "good day." And further, I totally didn't realize hiragana ha was being used for those phrases. I thought it was wa! This makes so much sense! I can hardly think! (Root words bring me joy.)

Though, I do wonder why the pattern isn't continued for the mornings. ("Konasawa.") Instead, we have "ohayo gozai masu." What's the literal translation of this phrase? It ends in "masu" so is it telling someone to do something/informing that you will do something?