Keigo Explained: Formal/Business Japanese with Sonkeigo, Kenjogo, Teichogo (尊敬語・謙譲語・丁重語)

Last time, we looked at the different levels of formality in Japanese, including the different categories and when to use each one. Let’s briefly review these categories, then move on to today’s topic: A deeper dive into keigo verbs!

Why It’s Important

Understanding the different types of formality in Japanese is important in 3 major areas: 

1. If you want to work using Japanese, it can really set you apart from other non-native speakers, 

2. It’ll give you a boost in the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), and

3. When you travel Japan, hotel staff and other service industry workers will be using keigo so you’ll be able to communicate more easily. (Of course, many people travel Japan without knowing the language at all, so this may not be a motivator for you!) 

And on that note, let’s review the different types of formality in Japanese. 

Reviewing Formality in Japanese

There are two main groups:

1. Futsūtai (普通体/ふつうたい), which is casual Japanese, and 

2. Keigo (敬語/けいご), which is formal Japanese. 

Within keigo, there are 5 categories: 

They are teineigo (丁寧語/ていねいご), bikago (美化語/びかご), sonkeigo (尊敬語/そんけいご), kenjōgo (謙譲語/けんじょうご), and teichōgo (丁重語/ていちょうご), which can also be referred to as kenjōgo II (謙譲語II/けんじょうごII). 

To learn more about the essentials of these categories, please watch this video.

Sonkeigo (尊敬語/そんけいご)

Let’s now look into sonkeigo in more detail. 

There are 3 ways to turn a verb into it’s sonkeigo form. 

1. Add reru (れる) or rareru (られる) to the end.

2. Add o (お) or go (ご) to the beginning, and ninaru (になる) or nasaru (なさる) to the end.

3. Change the verb completely. These ones need to be memorized.  

It’s pretty common to have more than one sonkeigo version of a word, which can be great since you have some flexibility, but it also means you potentially have more to memorize. 

Two Examples

1) Hanasu (話す/はなす)

Both ohanashininaru (お話になる/おはなしになる) and hanasareru (話される/はなされる) are correct sonkeigo forms. When you use them, make sure to have desu/masu (です・ます) on the end! 

Both of the questions below mean “Teacher, will you speak in Japanese tomorrow?” (先生は明日、日本語で話しますか/せんせいはあす、にほんごではなしますか？/Sensei wa asu, nihongo de hanashimasu ka?), but the first two are more formal. 

• 先生は明日、日本語でお話になりますか？/せんせいはあす、にほんごでおはなしになりますか？/ Sensei wa asu, nihongo de ohanashi ni narimasu ka?

• 先生は明日、日本語で話されますか？/せんせいはあす、にほんごではなされますか？/ Sensei wa asu, nihongo de hanasaremasu ka?

2) Nomu (飲む/のむ)

Both onomininaru (お飲みになる/おのみになる) and meshiagaru (召し上がる/めしあがる) are correctsonkeigo forms. Just like with hanasu (話す/はなす), make sure to use these verbs in their desu/masu (です・ます) form. 

As a quick note, if you’re familiar with  meshiagaru (召し上がる/めしあがる), you’ll know that this verb is used to mean both “to eat” and “to drink”. 

In last week’s video, we used  meshiagaru (召し上がる/めしあがる) in the example “Will you eat dessert?” But in this video, let’s use ‘afternoon tea’ since we’re talking about drinking and not eating.

Both of the questions below mean “Customer, will you drink afternoon tea?” (お客様、アフタヌーンティーを飲みますか？/おきゃくさま、アフタヌーンティーをのみますか？/Okyaku sama, afutānūntī wo nomimasu ka?)

• お客様、アフタヌーンティーを召し上がりますか？/おきゃくさま、アフタヌーンティーをめしあがりますか？/Okyaku sama, afutānūntī wo meshiagarimasu ka?

• お客様、アフタヌーンティーをお飲みになりますか？/おきゃくさま、アフタヌーンティーをおのみになりますか？/Okyaku sama, afutānūntī wo onomini narimasu ka?

So hanasu (話す/はなす) can become either ohanashi ni naru (お話になる/おはなしになる) or hanasareru (話される/はなされる).

And nomu (飲む/のむ) can become either onomi ni naru (お飲みになる/おのみになる) or meshiagaru (召し上がる/めしあがる).

Kenjōgo (謙譲語/けんじょうご) and Teichōgo (丁重語/ていちょうご)

Let’s next look into kenjōgo (謙譲語/けんじょうご) and teichōgo (丁重語/ていちょうご) in more detail. For this video, we’ll consider these two categories as one.

There are 2 ways to turn a verb into its kenjōgo (謙譲語/けんじょうご) or teichōgo (丁重語/ていちょうご) form. 

1. Add お or ご to the beginning, and する to the end. 

2. Change the verb completely. These ones need to be memorized.  

Just like with sonkeigo, it’s pretty common to have more than one kenjōgo version of a verb.

Two Examples

1) Hanasu (話す/はなす)

The kenjōgo form of hanasu (話す/はなす) is ohanashisuru (お話しする/おはなしする). When you use it, make sure to have desu/masu (です・ます) on the end. 

We just talked about the example about the teacher speaking in Japanese tomorrow, but since we’re using kenjōgo now, let’s say we’re talking. 

• 私は明日、日本語でお話しします。/わたしはあす、にほんごでおはなしします。/Watashi wa asu, nihongo de ohanashi shimasu.

2) Nomu (飲む/のむ), where we were talking about the customer drinking afternoon tea. Now that it’s us drinking it, we could say: 

• アフタヌーンティーを頂きます。/アフタヌーンティーをいただきます。/Afutānūntī wo itadaki masu.

So hanasu (話す/はなす) becomes ohanashisuru (お話しする/おはなしする) and nomu (飲む/のむ) becomes itadaku (頂く/いただく). 

Like I mentioned in the previous video, teichōgo includes a limited number of verbs, so let’s look at them now. They are: 

• Suru (する) ⇒ Itashimasu (いたします)

• Iku (行く・来る/いく・くる) ⇒ Mairimasu (参ります/まいります)

• Iu (言う/いう) ⇒ Mōshimasu (申します/もうします)

• Shiru, Omou (知る・思う/しる・おもう) ⇒ Zonjimasu (存じます/ぞんじます)

• Iru (いる) ⇒ Orimasu (おります)

• Aru (ある) ⇒ Gozaimasu (ございます)

Perhaps the most important thing - and also best thing - about teichōgo (丁重語/ていちょうご) verbs is that if you use them in their dictionary forms, you’ll sound like a samurai or person from a few hundred years ago so don’t do it! And for that reason, all teichōgo verbs in this video already have desu/masu added to them.

With all formal Japanese verbs, always use them in their desu/masu (です・ます) (or - to be more accurate - teichōgo (丁重語/ていちょうご) forms). 

Comparing Sonkeigo (尊敬語/そんけいご) and Kenjōgo (謙譲語/けんじょうご) Forms

Let’s look at some example verbs where we can directly compare the sonkeigo and kenjōgo forms. Just as a quick reminder, I won’t be explicitly differentiating between kenjōgo and teichōgo. 

The first 2 verbs are the ones we already looked at: 

• Hanasu (話す/はなす) becomes hanasareru (話される/はなされる) or ohanashininaru (お話になる/おはなしになる) in its sonkeigo form, and ohanashisuru (お話しする/おはなしする) in its kenjōgo form 

• Nomu (飲む/のむ) becomes onomininaru (お飲みになる/おのみになる) or meshiagaru (召し上がる/めしあがる) in its sonkeigo form, and itadaku (頂く/いただく) in its kenjōgo form

Now for 3 more: 

• Au (会う/あう) becomes oaininaru (お会いになる/おあいになる) or awareru (会われる/あわれる) in its sonkeigo form, and omenikakaru (お目にかかる/おめにかかる) in its kenjōgo form

• Iu (言う/いう) becomes ossharu (おっしゃる) in its sonkeigo form, and mōshimasu (申します/もうします) or mōshiagemasu (申し上げます/もうしあげます) in its kenjōgo form

• Matsu (待つ/まつ) becomes omachininaru (お待ちになる/おまちになる) or omachikudasaru (お待ちくださる/おまちくださる) in its sonkeigo form, and omachisuru (お待ちする/おまちする) in its kenjōgo form

And the two irregular verbs as a bonus! 

• Suru (する) becomes nasaru (なさる) or sareru (される) in its sonkeigo form, and itashimasu (いたします) or saseteitadaku (させていただく) in its kenjōgo form 

• Kuru (来る/くる) has a lot of  sonkeigo forms - they are irassharu (いらっしゃる), oideninaru (おいでになる), mieru (見える/みえる), okoshininaru (お越しになる/おこしになる), and its kenjōgo form is simple. It’s mairimasu (参ります/まいります).

Fun fact, the formal forms of kuru (来る/くる) and iku (行く/いく) often - but not always - overlap and you just need to know which meaning is being used based on context.

Check Your Understanding ✨

1) The teineigo (丁寧語/ていねいご) of a sentence is: Kokode matte kudasai (ここで待ってください。/ここでまってください。)

But we want to ask a customer to please wait here. How can we change the sentence so that it’s polite enough to say to them? Insert the verb to complete the sentence. 

Koko de ________ kudasai. (ここで____________ください。)

2) The teineigo (丁寧語/ていねいご) of a sentence is: Dewa, asu mata koko ni kimasu (では、明日またここに来ます。/では、あすまたここにきます。)

You want to tell this to the owner of the big company you work for. How can we change the sentence so that it’s polite enough to say to them? Insert the verb to complete the sentence. 

Dewa, asu mata koko ni _______. (では、明日またここに___________。)

Answers

1) There is more than one correct answer, but here are four possible ones: 

• Koko de/Kochira de omachi kudasai （ここで・こちらでお待ちください。/ここで・こちらでおまちください。）

• Koko de/Kochira de omachi ni natte kudasai (ここで・こちらでお待ちになってください。/ここで・こちらでおまちになってください。）

Whether your answer was one of these or not, if you used the sonkeigo version of the verb, you’re good to go.

Note: Although kochira (こちら) is more formal, koko (ここ) is also correct.

2) The correct answer is:

• Dewa, asu mata koko ni/kochira ni mairimasu (では、明日またここに・こちらに参ります。/では、あすまたここに・こちらにまいります。)

Since we’re talking about ourselves, we must use the kenjōgo or teichōgo version of the verb. 

Note: Although kochira (こちら) is more formal, koko (ここ) is also correct.

Final Thoughts

The world of keigo is pretty vast. 

When you travel Japan, if you’re working with Japanese clients or you’re working at a Japanese company, you’re likely to encounter keigo a lot. And without basic understanding, you could end up confused or embarrassed sometimes. 

I hope we’ve helped clarify at least the essentials for you! 

If you have questions or requests for future topics on keigo, please let me know in the comments!

Please consider subscribing to the YouTube channel for more videos that will help you improve your pronunciation and pitch accent. 

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