Thirty phrases you can read with kana alone

Greetings

All of these are written in hiragana only, so you can read them right now. Say them out loud.

こんにちは and こんばんは end in は but are read "wa" — a leftover from when they were particles. See "The three kana that change when they are particles".

Thanks and apologies

すみません does the most work of any phrase here — apologizing, getting attention, and even thanking. If you learn one, learn this.

In shops and restaurants

これ おねがいします — "this one, please" — handles most ordering. Point at the menu as you say it.

Answers and reactions

Two things that trip up the reading

First, the す in です and ます is barely voiced. The u devoices, so it lands closer to "des" than "desu". The same happens to the し in わかりました.

Second, long vowels are easy to drop. ありがとう is arigatō, not "arigato"; おはよう is ohayō, not "ohayo". That final う is lengthening the vowel before it.

Mind those two and these first phrases sound markedly more natural.