Jisho.org Forum

Posted By: Jumex

[p]I know it's a simple question, but it's been buggin' me.

Thanks a lot![/p]

I think 出会う is for when you first meet someone, like "encounter".
会う is just "meet".

It not the only usage, but usually 出会う is for an unplanned meeting, e.g.,

なぜ遅刻だ？
あぁ、ごめん、駅前できみこさんばったり出会った。

You can still use 会う in this case, and I remember asking a Japanese this question once, and there's not much difference here.
But if it's something planned, then you should use 会う, e.g,

今から何する？
けんさん会いに行く。

知会うis when you first meet someone or get to know someone.

出会うis used for chance encounters but also when people are dating.

会うis "to meet", as Ben said.

Some examples which I hope will be helpful are:
Let's meet at 7: ７時に会おう(会おうbeing an informal version of 会いましょう).
We (first) met in Tokyo: 東京で知り会った。
He's going out with Rika: 彼は里香ちゃんと出会ってる。

Posted By: roro

[p]出会うis used for chance encounters but also when people are dating.[/p][p]会うis "to meet", as Ben said.[/p]

I don't know... I see 会う being used sometimes for an unplanned/first meeting instead of 出会う or 知会う.

Posted By: KouhiiChan

[quote]

Posted By: roro

[p]I don't know... I see 会う being used sometimes for an unplanned/first meeting instead of 出会う or 知会う.[/p]

I don't think anyone was saying otherwise. I was saying 出会う is usually used for an unplanned meeting. Like if you had a meeting with your boss, you wouldn't say 部長に出会った. As ろろ pointed out, you can also use 出会う for dating, etc., and I think this is an idiomatic usage coming from the meaning of an unplanned (fortuitous) meeting (運命の人にやっと出会ったの感じみたい).