The word Daijobu is very commonly used in Japanese language. 大丈夫 is similar to the word “Alright” or “Okay” in English – but in addition to this, there are many situations where Natives use Daijobu while conversing and students get confused.
例えば、
飲食店で「お飲物、大丈夫ですか」
小売店で「わからないことなど、大丈夫ですか」「場所は、大丈夫ですか」
事務の受付けで「月曜日は大丈夫でしょうか」などです。
If we rewrite it in common Japanese, it may mean like
「Do you want more drink?」
「Do you have any doubt about the products? 」
「Do you know the said place? Do you need any navigation help? 」
「Is Monday okay with you for a meeting ?」
However, what if someone gets confused and can think on above questions like
「お飲み物、大丈夫って？ 何が言いたいの？」
「わからないことなど、大丈夫ですか？ っていったいどういうこと？」
「場所は、大丈夫って、え？ え？ 何？」
Sometimes students just says 「はい」 to adjust the situation and continues the conversation. Perhaps situation gets more confusing and difficult to understand
Let’s consider the previous example. When waiter asks
「お飲み物、大丈夫ですか」and you replied to him「はい」
In this case there are two extreme possibilities
- 「はい、ほしいです」
- 「はい、いりません」
Which are very confusing even to understand the waiter. If you don’t need any drink and waiter got it for you. You might feel that he is still serving, though I denied.
There are chances of miscommunication. So whenever you want to use the word 「大丈夫」Let’s confirm the meaning of it by ourselves and avoid misunderstandings.