ただいま
ただいま
tadaima
= I’m home / I’m back, said on returning home
ただいま is the word you call out as you step through the door, a one-word announcement that you are home and back among the people who were waiting for you.
ただいま is the set greeting said when arriving home, roughly I’m home or I’m back. It is the natural reply to which others answer おかえり (welcome back). The full polite form is ただいま帰りました (I have just returned). Although tied to coming home, it is also used returning to one’s workplace or any base where people expect you back. The tone is warm and routine.
Pair ただいま with its automatic response おかえり(なさい); learning them together makes both stick. Remember that 只今 also means just now in formal contexts, so ただいま戻ります at work means I’ll be right back, not I’m home. Said at the doorway it is almost always the homecoming greeting, so listen for the setting.
ただいま is a shortening of ただいま帰りました, where 只今 (ただいま) means just now or this very moment. So the phrase literally begins as just now I have returned, with the verb dropped over time. The leftover 只今 still appears in formal speech meaning at present or right now, unrelated to coming home.
Everyday use
ただいま！今日は早く帰れたよ。
Tadaima! Kyou wa hayaku kaereta yo.
I’m home! I managed to get back early today.
Casual / Social Media
誰もいない部屋に向かって、つい小さくただいまと言ってしまう。
Dare mo inai heya ni mukatte, tsui chiisaku tadaima to itte shimau.
Facing an empty room, I can’t help quietly saying ‘I’m home’ anyway.
Formal / Cultural context
出張から戻った社員が、ただいま戻りましたと挨拶した。
Shucchou kara modotta shain ga, tadaima modorimashita to aisatsu shita.
The employee back from a business trip greeted everyone with ‘I have just returned.’
ただいま and おかえり form one of the small spoken rituals that mark the rhythm of Japanese home life. The exchange does more than report an arrival; it reaffirms a bond, signaling that the home is a place one belongs to and returns to. Even people living alone sometimes say ただいま out of habit, a sign of how deeply the phrase is tied to the feeling of home itself.
The pairing appears constantly in film, anime, and song as shorthand for warmth, family, and belonging. A character finally able to say ただいま, or someone there to answer おかえり, can carry a whole story’s worth of emotion. For learners, mastering this tiny exchange is an easy entry point into the everyday courtesies that hold Japanese relationships together.