N3 · Politeness
The regular honorific
お〜になる and お〜ください
Any verb without a special honorific can be made one with お, the ます-stem and になる.
Only a handful of verbs have honorific forms of their own. Every other verb follows a pattern: お, the ます-stem, and になる. 待つ becomes お待ちになる, 帰る becomes お帰りになる, 決める becomes お決めになる. Verbs made of a Chinese-origin noun and する take ご instead: ご利用になる, ご出席になる.
The same pattern with ください is the standard polite request: お待ちください, お座りください, ご注意ください. It is more polite than 待ってください, and it is what you will read on every sign and hear in every announcement.
The pattern is not used where a verb has its own honorific: you do not say お行きになる but いらっしゃる, not お言いになる but おっしゃる. Nor does it normally work with a stem of a single sound — 見る, いる, 寝る, 来る — which is one reason those verbs have special forms.
A lighter honorific uses the passive ending: 帰られる, 書かれる. It is common at work and in the news, and less formal than お〜になる. The mistake English speakers make with this pattern is to reach for お〜する instead, which looks almost the same and is humble — it would lower the person you meant to honour.
The form
stem (regular) ending
| wait → honorific | お待ちになる |
| go home → honorific | お帰りになる |
| write → honorific | お書きになる |
| use → honorific | お使いになる |
| decide → honorific (group 2) | お決めになる |
| use a service → honorific (with ご) | ご利用になる |
| please wait | お待ちください |
| please use (with ご) | ご利用ください |
| polite past | お待ちになりました |
| lighter: the passive form | 待たれる |
The rules one by one
Take the ます-stem, put お in front and になる after it.
先生はこの辞書をお使いになりますか。Do you use this dictionary, Professor?
A verb made of a Chinese-origin noun and する takes ご instead of お.
明日の会議にはご出席になりますか。Will you be attending tomorrow's meeting?
お〜ください turns the same pattern into a polite request.
少々お待ちください。Please wait a moment.
A verb with its own honorific uses that instead.
この資料、もうご覧になりましたか。Have you already looked at these documents?
The passive form is a lighter honorific, common at work.
部長は何時ごろ戻られますか。Around what time will the manager be back?
A closer look
Too much respect
The honorific patterns can be stacked, and people do stack them: お帰りになられる puts the passive honorific on top of お〜になる. It is heard every day, especially from people anxious to be polite, and style guides treat it as a mistake — 二重敬語, "double keigo".
One honorific per verb is enough. Choose お帰りになる or 帰られる, not both, and you will sound more polite rather than less, because you will sound as if you knew.
Exceptions and special cases (1)
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the ます-stem is a single sound: 見る, いる, 寝る, 来る
use the special verbs: ご覧になる for 見る, いらっしゃる for いる and 来る, and お休みになる for 寝る.
先生はもうお休みになりました。The teacher has already gone to bed.
A one-sound stem is too short to carry the pattern; お見になる does not sound like Japanese.
How to spot it
- お〜になる
- ご〜になる
- お〜ください
- ご〜ください
- お〜です
Example sentences
お客様はもうお帰りになりました。The customer has already left.
こちらでお待ちください。Please wait here.
社長は毎朝新聞をお読みになります。The president reads the newspaper every morning.
お好きな席にお座りください。Please sit wherever you like.
このカードはどなたでもご利用になれます。Anyone can use this card.
足元にご注意ください。Please mind your step.
7 more example sentences
もうお決めになりましたか。Have you decided yet?
先生は何時ごろお着きになりますか。Around what time will you arrive, Professor?
お名前をこちらにお書きください。Please write your name here.
どうぞお入りください。Please come in.
会長は昨年お亡くなりになりました。The chairman passed away last year.
こちらのパンフレットをお持ちください。Please take one of these brochures.
ご質問のある方は、手をお上げください。If you have a question, please raise your hand.
Worth knowing (2)
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お or ご?
As a rule, native Japanese words take お and words of Chinese origin take ご: お待ち, ご利用. A few very common Chinese-origin words have settled on お instead, and have to be learned as they are: お電話, お食事, お時間.
後ほどお電話ください。Please call me later.
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お〜です: the short version
Instead of になる, the stem can be followed by です: お待ちです, お持ちですか, お急ぎですか. It describes a state rather than an action, and it is what you hear at every shop counter.
ポイントカードはお持ちですか。Do you have a loyalty card?
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
The two patterns differ by one word and point in opposite directions. お〜になる raises the person who acts; お〜する lowers them. Said about your manager, お帰りしました humbles the manager — and it is not even a correct humble form, because going home is not something you do for anybody.
お plus the ます-stem plus になる honours; the same with ください asks.
Your turn
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