What does いただきます Itadakimasu mean?
Itadakimasu (いただきます) means "I humbly receive". Subtitles render it "let's eat" or "bon appétit", both of which point the sentence at the wrong party.
- Written
- いただきます (itadakimasu)
- Literally
- I humbly receive. The humble form of the verb to receive, conjugated so the speaker lowers themselves relative to whoever or whatever is giving.
- As slang
- Not slang and not optional. Said before eating, at home and in restaurants, by adults and children, often with hands together.
- In anime
- Constant background vocabulary in any series with a meal in it, and usually subtitled as something it does not mean.
Itadakimasu is said before eating. Subtitles usually render it as let's eat or bon appétit, and both of those point the sentence in the wrong direction.
The grammar is the meaning
いただく (itadaku) is the humble form of もらう, to receive. Japanese has a whole register of verbs whose job is to encode the relative standing of the people involved, and the humble set lowers the speaker. Using this verb rather than the plain one is a grammatical statement that something is being handed down to you from above.
So the sentence is not addressed to the other diners. Bon appétit is a wish for someone else's enjoyment; let's eat is a proposal to a group. Itadakimasu is first person and it is about receiving. The nearest English structure is grace, though without the deity, which is exactly what makes it hard to translate cleanly.
Who is being thanked
This is contested and the contest is interesting. One account is Buddhist: the phrase acknowledges the lives ended to produce the meal, plants and animals alike. Another is more mundane and probably more accurate to daily use, where it acknowledges everyone in the chain, from the farmer to whoever cooked.
Most people saying it are not consciously doing either, in the same way most English speakers saying bless you are not thinking about plague. The etymology stays visible in the grammar whether or not the speaker is attending to it.
The paired phrase nobody translates
ごちそうさまでした (gochisousama deshita) closes the meal, and it is stranger than it looks. 馳走 originally described running about, the effort of gathering ingredients and preparing a meal for a guest. The phrase thanks someone for the running around.
The pair brackets the meal at both ends, and the second half is where the thanks actually lands on a person. Subtitles often drop it entirely, because English has nothing to put there.
Why anime makes it visible
Because meals in anime are frequently the scene rather than a break in it. A series will spend real screen time on food, and the phrase marks the boundary the way a door opening marks an entrance.
It also does quiet characterisation work. Who says it, whether they wait for others, whether they say it to an empty room. A character eating alone and saying it anyway is telling you something the dialogue is not.
Quick answers
What does itadakimasu mean?
I humbly receive. The humble form of the verb to receive, conjugated so the speaker lowers themselves relative to whoever or whatever is giving.
Is itadakimasu an insult?
Not slang and not optional. Said before eating, at home and in restaurants, by adults and children, often with hands together.
What does itadakimasu mean in anime?
Constant background vocabulary in any series with a meal in it, and usually subtitled as something it does not mean.