Japanese/Grammar/Honorifics

In Japanese society people are "ranked" based on their age, job or grade level, and other criteria. The Japanese language reflects this: there is a sophisticated grammatical system in place as well as a specialized vocabulary able to express ample nuances of politeness. This is called the honorifics system.

Verbs (動詞 - Doushi)

Japanese has three different ways to express formality in verbs: the plain form (くだけた, kudaketa, "chatty" or "impolite"), the simple polite form (ていねい, teinei, "polite") and the advanced polite form (敬語, keigo, "honorific language"). Kudaketa verbs build off the dictionary form of a verb. Teinei verbs build off the stem of a verb + ma + the tense endings. Keigo is usually formed by archaic or highly irregular verbs that can be divided into two further groups: 尊敬語, sonkeigo, or honorific, and 謙譲語, kenjougo, or humble language. Sonkeigo" is an honorific way of speaking in which you elevate the rank of the person you're speaking to or about way above your own. Kenjougo is a humble way of speaking in which you humble yourself or lower your rank below the person you're speaking to.

Below is a chart comparing kudaketa verbs to teinei verbs.

Kudaketa/Plain Form	Teinei/Polite Form	Tense	Translation
食べる taberu	食べます tabemasu	nonpast	eat
食べない tabenai	食べません tabemasen	nonpast negative	do not eat
食べた tabeta	食べました tabemashita	past	ate
食べなかった tabenakatta	食べませんでした tabemasen-deshita	past negative	did not eat
食べろ tabero	食べなさい tabenasai	imperative	eat
食べよう tabeyou	食べましょう tabemashou	volitional	let's eat
食べて tabete	食べまして tabemashite*	conjunctive	(See note below)
食べれば tabereba	食べますれば tabemasureba*	conditional	If...eats

* These forms are not used commonly. Usually, the plain forms of the conjunctive and conditional tenses would be used.

On the conjunctive, also known as the "-te form:" This is used as a variety of tenses but mainly when several verbs come in succession of each other (私はピザを食べて、眠りました。 - Watashi wa piza wo tabete, nemurimashita. - I ate pizza, then slept.)

Regular Keigo Verb Forms

丁寧　Teinei	謙譲語 kenjougo (humble)	尊敬語 sonkeigo (polite)
Vstem+ます stem+masu	お+Vstem+します o+stem+shimasu	お+Vstem+になります o+stem+ninarimasu
待ちます machimasu	おまちします omachishimasu	おまちになります omachininarimasu
作ります tsukurimasu	おつくりします otsukurishimasu	おつくりになります otsukurininarimasu
教えます oshiemasu	おおしえします ooshieshimasu	おおしえになります ooshieninarimasu
書きます kakimasu	おかきします okakishimasu	おかきになります okakininarimasu

Irregular Keigo Verb Forms

丁寧　Teinei	謙譲語 kenjougo (humble)	尊敬語 sonkeigo (polite)
言います iimasu	申します moushimasu	おっしゃいます osshaimasu
食べます tabemasu 飲みます nomimasu	いただきます itadakimasu	めしあがります meshiagarimasu
行きます ikimasu 来ます kimasu	まいります mairimasu	いらっしゃいます irasshaimasu おいでになります oideninarimasu
います imasu	おります orimasu	いらっしゃいます irasshaimasu おいでになります oideninarimasu
N+です N+desu	N+でございます N+degozaimasu	N+でいらっしゃいます N+deirasshaimasu
します shimasu	いたします itashimasu	なさいます nasaimasu
知っています shitteimasu	ぞんじています or 存じております zonjiteimasu or zojiteorimasu	ごぞんじです or ご存知でいらっしゃいます gozonjidesu or gozonjideirasshaimasu
願います negaimasu	おねがいします or お願いいたします onegaishimasu or onegaiitashimasu	-----
聞きます kikimasu	伺います(うかがいます) ukagaimasu	------
会います aimasu	おめにかかります omenikakarimasu	------
見ます mimasu	拝見します haikenshimasu	御覧になります goranninarimasu

The おいでになります oideninarimasu comes from the regular forms above applied to the old verb いづ izu (= modern 出る deru).

Honorifics (敬語 - Keigo)

A variety of ways can be employed to make words polite or impolite. One way that can be used is simply choosing a certain word (i.e., instead of using あなた (anata) to refer to the second person, one can use their name) or employ the usage of special affixes. Notably one of the most common is -さん (-san), used to denote something like Mr./Mrs./Ms. onto a name. A list of affixes is below.

Affix	Romaji	Translation
お-	o-	Honorific title used on words of typically Japanese origin or other titles
ご-	go-	Honorific title used on words of typically foreign origin
-さん	-san	Mr./Mrs./Ms./Miss
-ちゃん	-chan	Used to denote familiarity or a kind of cuteness
-君 (-くん)	-kun	Used to denote someone of lower rank or a small level of impoliteness
-後輩 (-こうはい)	-kohai	Used to denote someone of a lower grade than the speaker ('underclassman')*
-先輩 (-せんぱい)	-senpai	Used to denote someone of a higher grade than the speaker ('upperclassman')
-様 (-さま)	-sama	Used to denote someone of royalty or godhood

* -こうはい (kohai) is rarely used as an affix. Most people in a senpai position would use -くん (kun) instead.

Note that -くん (kun) is a somehow (not strictly, just more often) preferred affix speaking to or between boys (although boyfriends are sometimes addressed with -ちゃん). Girls tend to use -ちゃん (chan) in a similar manner, although -くん (kun) is also used sometimes. Unlike -さん (san) which is commonly used with a family name, these two affixes can also be used with given names (moreover, the name used may be shortened in front of these two affixes).

-さま (sama) is also commonly used when addressing customers

See also

• Japanese/Grammar/Politeness