Good Evening, I'm a beginner in Japanese and stack exchange. I'm probably
going to ask you all very simple and phrase based questions, so I am happy to
give any points or perks of appreciation that I can, as long as you teach me.
Anyway, I know how to say one day in Japanese romaji (Aru hi), but I was
wondering if someone could teach me how to say "One day at a time". Is there
an extension of Aru hi, or is it just some other phrase. Please let me know.
Thanks
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phrases phrase-requests english-to-japanese
How to say "One day at a time" in romaji
I think a simple one is 一日一歩｛いちにちいっぽ｝ which in romaji is _ichinichi ippo_.
This literally means "one day one step" and it bears the meaning of "one day
at the time" in English.

There is as well another way to express a similar meaning with
一日一日{いちにちいちにち}を着実{ちゃくじつ}に. In romaji _ichinichi ichinichi wo chakujitsu ni_.
This is a bit hard to translate literally as chakujitsu means "steady, sound".
The particle ni turns the noun before it in an adverb, so it could be "one day
one day (day by day) steadily", that after all means "one day at the time" as
well.

By the way, "aruhi" (ある日、。。。) means more "one day" in the sense of "One day...
something happened" .. or like in a novel could be "Once upon a time". It does
not mean "one day" in the sense of counting days (like one, two, three days
etc). (i.e., "on a certain day")
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For this specific case I actually prefer Tommy's answer (more idiomatic), but
it might be worth pointing out that there is a general way to say "N units at
a time" in Japanese by using ずつ (zutsu):

Examples:

一日ずつ ichi nichi zutsu = one day at a time

一人ずつ hitori zutsu = one person at a time

二個ずつ ni ko zutsu = two "small items" at a time (eg, pieces of candy)

Since it is usable with numbers other than 1, and with counters other than
people, it is a fairly flexible. If you're curious, Googling "japanese grammar
zutsu" brings up additional information.
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zutsu is used as counter for quantity so 一日ずつ one day once (a year/a month/a
week)
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