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尊敬語(そんけいご) - Honorific Forms: Expressing Respect
YI I - G30, IJ - 6

Politeness and honorifics

  • おきる plain
  • 起きます polite/formal
  • お起きになる plain--honorific
  • お起きになります polite/formal--honorific

Deciding when to use 敬語:

  • use 敬語 to someone who holds a higher position/rank within an organization
  • use 敬語 to someone who is older than you
  • use 敬語 to someone who is more experienced than you in an occupation/skill
  • use 敬語 to someone who provides you with benefits
  • use 敬語 to someone you don’t know the identity of
  • the degree of familiarity and the genders of the persons involved may change the above decisions

Regular forms (verbs): お〜に なる  

お + conjunctive form of the verb + に

 + なる(なります)

conjunctive form of the verb (pre-masu form): よみます --> よみ

敬語

スミス先生は手紙を書きになりました
( Mr. Smith wrote a letter.)
キム先生は何時に起きになりましたか。
(Ms. Kim, what time did you get up?)

polite sentence

スミスさんは手紙を書きました。
(Mr. Smith wrote a letter.)
キムさんは何時に起きましたか。
(Ms. Kim, what time did you get up?)


Irregular forms (verbs):

See Irregular Honorific forms (vocabulary list)

森社長、コーヒーをめしあがりますか。
(Mr. Mori [my boss], would you like to have a cup of coffee?)

森さん、コーヒーを飲みますか。
(Mr. Mori, would you like to have a cup of coffee?)

Honorific form of the progressive form (regular)

  1. te-form of honorific form + います: 先生はお話になっています。
  2. te-form of verb + いらっしゃる: 先生は話していらっしゃいます。

Honorific form of the progressive form (irregular)

  1. te-form of honorific form + います: 社長はおすしをめしあがっています。

Honorific forms of adjectives

Adding the polite prefix (limited usage)

Talking about a person's attributes:
お父さまは わかいですね。
お母さまはいつもいそがしそうですね。

The polite prefix can't be added to, for example
遠い (not a person's attribute)
おもしろい、おおきい (adjectives which start with お)
ハンサム (Katakana adjective words)
下手、けち (stingy) (adjective words with negative meanings)