Japanese keigo levels, explained

Sonkeigo and kenjōgo are not steps on one ladder: they point in opposite directions, and a sentence about someone else and a sentence about yourself, at the same level of formality, use different verbs. Both are almost always combined with です・ます.

Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs divides keigo more finely, into five kinds: it splits kenjōgo in two, separating the verbs that lower you towards a person (伺う, お届けする) from the courteous verbs that are simply formal (参る, 申す, いたす, おる), and it adds bikago (美化語), the お and ご that make words like お茶 and ご飯 sound refined. The three-level picture above is the one textbooks start from, and it is the one this page uses.

One question settles almost every keigo choice: whose action is this, and which side is that person on? If the person acting is someone you respect, and not on your side, the verb is raised (sonkeigo). If the person acting is you, or someone on your side, the verb is lowered (kenjōgo). Teineigo sits on top of both and is about the person you are speaking to, whoever the sentence is about.

Teineigo is the polite layer every learner meets first. Verbs take ます on their stem (行く → 行きます, 食べる → 食べます), and nouns and adjectives take です (学生です, 高いです). It is respect for the listener, not for anyone in the sentence: 犬が寝ています, "the dog is asleep", is perfectly good teineigo, though nobody is honouring the dog. That is why it works with strangers, shop staff, colleagues and teachers alike, and why it is the safe default when you do not know how formal to be.

Because teineigo is about the listener and sonkeigo is about the person acting, the two layers are independent. Two students talking about their teacher say 先生がいらっしゃったよ, "the teacher's here": an honorific verb for the teacher, but a plain ending, because they are friends. Said to the teacher's colleague, the same news becomes 先生がいらっしゃいました, with both layers on.

Above です sits でございます, the most formal teineigo, used by staff to customers, in announcements and in formal speeches. It raises nobody and lowers nobody; it only makes the sentence more courteous. Polite word choice goes with it: あちら for あそこ ("over there"), こちら for ここ, 少々 for ちょっと, and nouns with the refining prefix of bikago, お or ご.

Break down your own sentence

• 毎朝コーヒーを飲みます。I drink coffee every morning. (teineigo: polite to the listener)
• 少々お待ちください。Please wait a moment. (少々 is the formal ちょっと)
• 本日は晴れでございます。Today it is fine. (でございます, as in a formal announcement)

The most common verbs have their own honorific and humble words. These are the ones to learn first, because they are the ones you will hear every day: in shops, on the phone, from station staff and from anyone speaking to a customer.

Two things about the table. First, いらっしゃる stands for three plain verbs at once, いる, 行く and 来る, so context tells you whether 先生はいらっしゃいますか asks "is the teacher in?" or "is the teacher coming?". Second, five of these verbs bend irregularly before ます: いらっしゃる, おっしゃる, なさる, くださる and ござる take い instead of り, so the polite forms are いらっしゃいます, おっしゃいます and なさいます, never いらっしゃります.

• 先生はもうお帰りになりました。The teacher has already gone home. (Sonkeigo: the teacher's action.)
• 資料を拝見しました。I have looked at the documents. (Kenjōgo: your own action.)
• コーヒーを召し上がりますか。Would you like some coffee? (Sonkeigo: the listener will drink.)
• 駅までご案内します。I will take you to the station. (Kenjōgo: you are the one guiding.)

Explain sonkeigo and kenjōgo at your levelwith Plus

Most verbs have no honorific or humble word of their own. They take a pattern instead, built on the masu-stem (the form before ます: 待ち, 持ち, 帰り). Sonkeigo: お + stem + になる, so お待ちになる, "will wait", for someone you respect. Kenjōgo: お + stem + する, so お持ちする, "I will carry it", for yourself. Sino-Japanese verbs made with する take ご instead of お: ご案内する, "I will show you the way"; ご利用になる, "you use".

The humble pattern only works when your action is done for someone, or reaches them. You can お持ちする someone's bags or お送りする them a file, but you cannot use it for an action that touches nobody: "I will walk" stays 歩きます. And the two patterns must not swap: お〜になる about yourself raises yourself, and お〜する about a customer asks the customer to humble themselves.

There is a lighter sonkeigo too: the passive form used as an honorific. 書かれる, 来られる and 帰られる can mean "writes", "comes" and "goes home" said of someone you respect: 部長は何時に帰られますか, "what time is the manager going home?". It is common in business and in the news, and less deferential than お〜になる. Never put it on a verb that is already honorific: おっしゃる is enough, and おっしゃられる is a double honorific.

• 社長がお呼びになっています。The president is asking for you. (お〜になる: the president's action)
• 明日、資料をお送りします。I will send you the documents tomorrow. (お〜する: your action, for the listener)
• こちらの部屋をご利用ください。Please use this room. (ご + noun + ください: a respectful request)

The clearest way to see the two directions is the same scene twice. You are at someone's home and there is cake. Both sentences below are about eating that cake, both end in ます, and both are equally polite. What differs is who eats, and the verb alone tells you.

The pair works because Japanese drops pronouns whenever it can. In English the difference is carried by "you" and "I"; in Japanese neither word is there, and the verb carries it instead. The same split runs through the whole verb table: いらっしゃる for the guest who is coming and 参る for you; おっしゃる for what the client said and 申す for what you said; ご覧になる for the client looking at your proposal and 拝見する for you looking at theirs.

• 部長は明日大阪にいらっしゃいます。The manager is going to Osaka tomorrow. (said by a colleague, inside the company)
• 私は明日大阪に参ります。I am going to Osaka tomorrow. (said of yourself, formally)
• こちらの写真をご覧ください。Please look at this photo. (the listener's looking)

Keigo follows groups, not only rank. When you speak to someone outside your group, people inside it, your boss included, count as your own side, and their actions take humble language. Inside the company you say 部長はいらっしゃいますか, is the manager in? To a customer on the phone, the same manager becomes 田中は席を外しております: Tanaka is away from his desk, with no title and a humble verb.

The rule covers names as well as verbs. To an outsider, your own colleague or boss loses the title (部長, 課長) and even さん, and is named by surname alone, or as 部長の田中, "our manager, Tanaka". Families work the same way: you speak of your own mother as 母 and someone else's as お母さん. Learners who have been told to respect superiors find this the hardest part of keigo, because it means saying something that sounds rude about your boss in order to be polite to the customer.

• 田中部長はいらっしゃいますか。Is Manager Tanaka in? (A colleague asking, inside the company.)
• 申し訳ございません。田中は外出しております。I am sorry, Tanaka is out of the office. (To a customer: your manager is on your side.)
• 母がよろしくと申しておりました。My mother asked me to give you her regards. (Your own mother: 母 and humble 申す.)

• Not受付で伺ってください。

  But受付でお尋ねください。

  伺う is kenjōgo, so using it for the customer's action asks the customer to humble themselves. The customer's asking takes the respectful お尋ねください (please ask at reception).

• Notおっしゃられる

  Butおっしゃる

  おっしゃる is already honorific; adding the honorific passive られる stacks a second layer on it. The same goes for ご覧になられる: ご覧になる is enough.

• Not弊社の山田部長がいらっしゃいます。

  But弊社の山田が参ります。

  To an outsider, your own company is your side. Your manager loses the title and takes the humble verb: our Yamada will come.

• Not私がいらっしゃいます。

  But私が参ります。

  Sonkeigo raises the person who acts. Used for yourself it raises yourself, which sounds arrogant or comic. Your own coming is 参ります.

• Not拝見させていただきます。

  But拝見します。

  拝見する is already humble, and させていただく piles humility on top. You hear it constantly, but careful writers cut it: 拝見します says it.

• Notどうぞ、いただいてください。

  Butどうぞ、召し上がってください。

  いただく is the humble verb for your own eating. Offered to a guest, it asks them to lower themselves as they eat. The guest's eating is 召し上がる.

Practise these with the tutorwith Pro

Japanese is one of the languages Epsylo has a hand-written profile for, and keigo is what its politeness dial is for. The same sentence can be rewritten from rough plain speech through the です・ます register up to keigo, and the breakdown marks each honorific and humble verb and says whose action it raises or lowers. Polite endings and humble auxiliaries such as ます, でございます and おります take the politeness colour, while an honorific or humble verb keeps the verb colour and its card names the level.

Break down a sentence in keigo

What are the levels of keigo?

Three in most textbooks: teineigo (丁寧語), the polite です・ます forms; sonkeigo (尊敬語), which raises the actions of others; and kenjōgo (謙譲語), which lowers your own. Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs divides them into five, splitting kenjōgo in two and adding bikago, the refined お and ご before nouns.

Is です・ます the same as keigo?

It is the first level of keigo, teineigo, and it is the default with people you do not know well. Sonkeigo and kenjōgo go further, replacing or reshaping the verb itself, and are used with customers, superiors and in formal settings.

What is the difference between sonkeigo and kenjōgo?

The direction. Sonkeigo raises the person who acts, so it is used for what others do: 先生がおっしゃいました, the teacher said. Kenjōgo lowers the speaker, so it is used for what you do: 私が申しました, I said.

Should I use keigo about my own boss?

Inside the company, yes: your boss's actions take sonkeigo (部長はいらっしゃいますか). Speaking to a customer or anyone from outside, no: your boss counts as your side, so you drop the title and use humble verbs (田中は外出しております).

Is させていただく correct?

It is correct when you do something with the other person's permission and to your benefit: 休ませていただきます, "I will take the day off (with your leave)". It is overused, though, and stacked on a verb that is already humble, as in 拝見させていただく, it doubles the humility. 拝見します is enough.

Do Japanese people use keigo with friends?

No. Among friends and family the plain form is normal, and keigo would sound cold or sarcastic. Keigo marks distance as much as respect.

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