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I frequently pass by an elderly neighbor who lives in the same apartment when
coming home from a dog walk. He's kind of an in-house carpenter for the
building and is frequently seen around the garage. I usually just nod to him
with a small murmur that sounds like こんにちは.

Now this chap is not exactly as close as a family, so `ただいま` doesn't quite
feel right. But he's more on a talking basis rather than a higher-up, which
rules out `ただいま戻りました`. I've seen `ただいまです` used in the Internets but not in
spoken Japanese.

What's the appropriate words of greeting in this situation?
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2011-06-21T02:28:00.093
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2011-06-21T22:38:03.020
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word-choice honorifics greetings
Appropriate ただいま-like greeting for a neighbor?
I think you may be totally ok with こんにちは.
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2011-06-21T03:14:35.950
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2011-06-21T03:14:35.950
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ただいま is definitely not the right word for this situation.

It is exclusively used when arriving **home** (typically, when you step inside
the house). Sometimes, by extension, it can be used when coming back from a
trip and stepping into the airport or the train station of your destination,
talking to your loved ones waiting for you (or perhaps over the phone).

As you probably know, it is usually paired with お帰り【おかえり】/お帰りなさい【おかえりなさい】
("welcome home"), which can be used in slightly wider situations (famously,
Narita airport "welcomes [foreign travellers] to Japan", but wishes "お帰りなさい"
to its fellow Japanese citizen).

But in all cases, ただいま is most definitely used to address your inner circle
(most typically, your companion and/or kids). Saying that to a stranger,
however friendly, would be akin to saying "Honey, I'm home" to your building
manager ;-)

As Mark said: こんにちは/こんばんは/おはようございます is probably the most appropriate for a
friendly neighbour. On occasions, if you are coming home and he's going out,
you could give him some 行ってらっしゃい【いってらっしゃい】, but this might be better left to
older obaachans wishing _you_ a nice day.
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2011-06-21T04:12:26.560
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2012-09-08T11:29:27.793
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Dave & Mark are both correct.

Personally tended to use どうもすみません to express surprise at our meeting, and then
possibly followed by sucking air through the teeth and maybe a restrained
こんにちは.

This seemed to do the trick with my landlord / office maintenance person /
neighbours / etc.

BTW, I've only heard ただいまです〜 in anime or from when said with a hint of irony.
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2011-06-21T06:29:11.660
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2011-06-21T06:29:11.660
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As others said already, ただいま is just wrong in this situation: you're not
announcing people around you _in your house/lab/office_ that you're back, but
just saluting someone who basically knows nothing about you and doesn't share
any private space with you.

Appropriate greetings for this kind of encounter with your neighbourhood range
from こんにちは to いい天気ですね. I consider the latter to be even better: it's not
really a comment on the weather, just a way to say something when you have
nothing else to say. Grandmothers meeting at bus stops are very good at
sayings loads of things like that, without really engaging any conversation.

PS: you _could_ say ただいま if you had left your neighbourhood for a few weeks,
and upon meeting him, if he tells you "welcome back" during conversation.
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2011-06-21T07:24:51.633
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