Keigo, from basic to advanced

Japanese has three verb systems that sit on top of the plain form. They are not the same as each other — each one gives you different information.

Textbooks often skip this point. In Japanese, the subject is often left out. Keigo is one of the main ways the reader figures out who did the action.

2.1 Sonkeigo → subject is not the speaker

Sonkeigo raises the subject. You do not raise yourself. So:

2.2 Kenjōgo → subject is the speaker (or their side)

Kenjōgo lowers the subject. You do not lower other people. So:

2.3 Teineigo → no information

です／ます tells you nothing about the subject. 見みましたか could mean the listener, the speaker, or a third person. This is exactly why keigo matters for reading — remove the Sonkeigo/Kenjōgo and you lose the "who."

Third parties add one more difficulty (which "side" is the third person on?). That is explained in §8 · Uchi/soto.

Common verbs have their own special forms. They do not follow the お＋stem pattern. Learn them as sets of three — this is probably the most useful memorisation in keigo.

Notes

• いらっしゃる ／ おっしゃる ／ なさる ／ くださる ／ ござる are the "five special respectful verbs." They take ～います (not ～ります) in the polite form: いらっしゃいます, おっしゃいます, なさいます, くださいます, ございます.
• いらっしゃる covers three verbs — いる ／ 行いく ／ 来くる. Which one it is is decided by context. A destination (御社おんしゃに) → 行いく. An origin or arrival cue (こちらに, もう) → 来くる. A state or location (今いま、ロビーに) → いる. The same rule applies to おいでになる.
• 召めし上あがる vs いただく — same idea (eat / drink), but the choice depends on who is doing it. Boss eats → 召めし上あがる. You eat (or receive) → いただく.
• The 拝はい prefix (bow, revere) marks a family of humble verbs: 拝見はいけんする (see), 拝読はいどくする (read), 拝借はいしゃくする (borrow), 拝聴はいちょうする (listen), 拝受はいじゅする (receive). All lower the speaker. Never use them about others.
• Multiple Sonkeigo for one verb — pick the register. Some verbs offer more than one respectful form. For arriving, お見みえになる ／ お越こしになる are higher-register than 来こられる. Use the fuller form for named guests and clients; use ～れる for softer honorific in news and email (see A2).
• Showing to a customer: use お目めにかける ／ ご覧らんに入いれる, not 見みせてあげます — ～てあげる to a customer sounds presumptuous (see §9).
• Verbs with no Kenjōgo (着きる, 寝ねる, 死しぬ) — do not invent one. These actions are not directed at anyone, so there is nothing to humble: plain polite (寝ねます) is already correct. お＋stem＋する (see §4) only works when the action involves the person you respect.
• Some Kenjōgo cells show two forms (伺うかがう ／ 参まいる, 申もうし上あげる ／ 申もうす). They are not exactly the same — see A1 · Two kinds of Kenjōgo. For now, either is fine.
• Where two Kenjōgo forms differ by formality — the table lists them side by side, but they are not interchangeable in every register: 頂戴ちょうだいする sits above いただく for formal written business; 承うけたまわる is the form for formally receiving a request or order; and for visiting, お伺うかがいする is the business default, お訪たずねする the neutral option, and お邪魔じゃまする the friendly one that casts you as an intrusion — too casual for a client email.

When a verb has no special form, you build keigo with a pattern.

4.1 Sonkeigo patterns

4.2 Kenjōgo patterns

4.3 だ／ある and their polite forms

Keigo is not only about verbs. Some everyday words are replaced by more formal ones. Seeing them is a clear sign that you are reading formal Japanese.

Notes on the tricky rows

• 御社おんしゃ vs 貴社きしゃ — same meaning ("your company"), split by medium. 御社おんしゃ in speech, 貴社きしゃ in writing. The spoken/written split exists because 貴社きしゃ is a homophone with 記者きしゃ, 汽車きしゃ, 帰社きしゃ — ambiguous by ear, clear on the page.
• 弊社へいしゃ vs 当社とうしゃ — both refer to your own company, but 弊社へいしゃ actively humbles (弊へい = worn, shabby) — use it with clients and outside parties. 当社とうしゃ is neutral-formal — right for press releases or internal documents where no one specific is being deferred to.
• "Theirs" family words are strictly one-way. ご子息しそく, ご息女そくじょ, お嬢様じょうさま, 奥様おくさま, ご主人しゅじん refer only to the listener's or a third party's family — never your own. ✗ うちのご子息しそく → ○ うちの息子むすこ. Using them for your own family raises your own side (uchi/soto error — see §8).
• すぐ → 早速さっそく ／ 至急しきゅう — not synonyms. 早速さっそく is prompt / proactive ("I got right on it"), positive tone. 至急しきゅう is urgent — needed now, used in subject lines: 【至急しきゅう】ご確認かくにんください.
• ちょっと → 少々しょうしょう in formal speech and writing. 少々しょうしょうお待まちください, 少々しょうしょうお時間じかんをいただけますか are standard.

Some grammar books call this a fourth type. It is the お ／ ご added to nouns to make them sound nicer (お茶ちゃ, お金かね, ご飯はん). It is not linked to any specific person, and it is not really honorific — it just makes the speaker sound refined. Sometimes grouped under Teineigo.

Which prefix, and when

Common exceptions to memorise

Several 漢語かんご words take お, not ご, because they've been fully assimilated:

• お時間じかん, お電話でんわ, お食事しょくじ, お料理りょうり, お約束やくそく, お返事へんじ — all 漢語かんご but take お.
• A few take either: お返事へんじ ／ ご返事へんじ, お誕生日たんじょうび ／ ご誕生日たんじょうび.

One prefix per word

This also covers compounds built on a word that already carries one. お茶ちゃ漬づけ is お茶ちゃ ＋ 漬づけ — the prefix carries over into the compound, and nothing is added on top of it.

Mandatory vs optional

How attached the prefix is varies by word, and it sits on a spectrum rather than a switch.

Overusing お in casual speech makes you sound affected; underusing it in service or business Japanese sounds rough. A few optional prefixes also carry a softer, more refined register that reads as feminine in casual male speech — おトイレ, お化粧けしょう, お洋服ようふく — where お水みず and おなか stay neutral for every speaker.

Same prefix, different job

The same お ／ ご can be either Bikago (just refined) or Sonkeigo (respecting a specific person), depending on whose thing it is. お名前なまえ in お名前なまえをお願ねがいします is Sonkeigo — the name belongs to the listener. お茶ちゃ in お茶ちゃを飲のもう is Bikago — nobody's name is on the tea.

Watch the word class: Bikago sits on a noun. The same お on a verb stem is a different thing entirely — お読よみになる is the お～になる Sonkeigo pattern (see §4), and it always raises the person doing the action. Some prefixed nouns flip the same way: ご連絡れんらく is Bikago when you mean contact in general, Sonkeigo when the contacting was done by the person you are addressing.

• ～様さま — the standard respectful title. Used in writing (envelopes, invoices) and formal speech.
• ～殿どの — used in official or internal documents to subordinates or peers. Do not use it to someone above you — it can sound like you are looking down on them.
• ～氏し — used in news writing ("Mr. / Ms." in a news article). Neutral.
• ～先生せんせい — teachers, doctors, lawyers, politicians, authors. Wider than just "teacher."
• 御中おんちゅう — used on envelopes when the letter is going to an organisation, not a person (株式会社かぶしきがいしゃABC 御中おんちゅう). Never use it together with ～様さま.
• 各位かくい — "to everyone concerned." Used in group emails and notices. Replaces ～様さま for individuals.

Keigo is not attached to a person. You do not decide once that your boss "gets Sonkeigo" and then use it forever. You decide again every time you speak, and the thing that decides it is who is listening.

For this, Japanese splits the world in two. 内うち (uchi) is your side — your company, your team, your family. 外そと (soto) is everyone else. The line is not fixed either: it falls between you and whoever you are talking to.

Rule 1 — To an outsider, your whole side becomes one block

The moment you speak to someone outside your group, everyone inside it is treated the same: you, your colleague, your boss, your family. All of them humble, none of them Sonkeigo. Your boss is not pushed below you — your boss is bundled together with you, and the difference between you stops being expressed at all.

The listener's side is the mirror image. The customer, their colleagues and their boss all keep Sonkeigo.

Rule 2 — Their names lose さん, and the title moves

The same rule, applied to how you name people. In front of an outsider it is 田中たなかは席せきを外はずしております — not 田中たなかさんは…, and not 田中たなか部長ぶちょうは…. Hanging a title off the end of your own colleague's name is a way of honouring them, and honouring your own side in front of an outsider is the opposite of what you want.

The job itself does not have to disappear, though — you often need it to say which Tanaka you mean. Move it in front with の and it stops being an honorific and becomes a plain statement of the job: 部長ぶちょうの田中たなかがご説明せつめいいたします. You can also drop the name and keep the job — 弊社へいしゃの部長ぶちょう in formal speech, うちの部長ぶちょう in casual.

Official guidance takes this question head on: 田中たなか and 部長ぶちょうの田中たなか both work to an outsider, while 田中たなか部長ぶちょう is judged unsuitable because it never became an in-group way of naming him. The same goes at the top of the company: 社長しゃちょうの田中たなか, not 田中たなか社長しゃちょう. You will still hear the title-last version, especially when the person is sitting right there — but the の form is the one that is safe everywhere.

So what disappears is the marking, not the information. You can state someone's job; you just stop deferring to it. In front of a customer your 部長ぶちょう is named and conjugated exactly like someone who joined last week — which is the clearest sign that Rule 1 is a merge and not a demotion.

Rule 3 — Back inside the group, rank returns

With no outsider in the room there is no block to form, and ordinary rank runs the sentence again. Your boss goes straight back to Sonkeigo.

Rank here means position, not age. A 課長かちょう younger than you is still above you, and a 先輩せんぱい who joined a year earlier is still a 先輩せんぱい. (If you meet the words 目上めうえ and 目下めした in a textbook, that is what they name: someone above or below you inside your own group.)

Decision table — the three verbs of いる

Because this comes up so often in phone and reception Japanese:

The Kansai form おられる (おる + honorific ～れる) is used in western Japan and some business speech for respected third parties, but many hear おる as humble and feel it lowers the subject. When in doubt with a customer, いらっしゃいます is always safe.

When reading: a Kenjōgo verb does not have to mean the subject is 私わたし literally. It can be anyone on the speaker's side — a colleague, a subordinate, a family member — as long as the speaker is talking to someone outside the group. The verb tells you "in-group," not "first person."

These verbs are everywhere in polite Japanese, so it is worth learning them early. In Japanese, the direction of a favour (who did something for whom) is built into the verb — not the pronoun. Keigo is then added on top to show respect.

9.1 The three base verbs

• くれる ／ くださる → the giver is the other person, the receiver is me / us. You cannot use くれる for "I give."
• あげる ／ 差さし上あげる → the giver is me / us (or a third person giving to another third person). You cannot use あげる for "they gave to me."
• もらう ／ いただく → the receiver is me / us. The giver is the other person.

Warning about 差さし上あげる: adding ～て to it — 「〜て差さし上あげます」— is not an error; official guidance even lists ご案内あんないしてさしあげる as well formed. The problem is that it names the favour: it says out loud that the other person is benefiting from you, which easily reads as conferring a kindness they did not ask for. お～する ／ ～いたします carries the same humility without naming it, and is what people actually reach for — in a survey of 127 native speakers offering to help a superior, the common answers were お手伝てつだいしましょうか ／ お手伝てつだいいたしましょうか, and no ～て差さし上あげる offer appears in the reported results at all. Where it stays comfortable is about someone rather than to their face: 「お客様きゃくさまをご案内あんないして差さし上あげて」 to a colleague, or reporting what a third person did.

9.2 Combined with ～て form (actions done as favours)

This is where 授受じゅじゅ表現ひょうげん becomes essential. Attach these verbs to the ～て form of another verb, and the sentence describes an action done as a favour. The direction is still fixed by the verb.

9.3 Subject logic: ～てくださる vs ～ていただく

Both often translate to English the same way ("the teacher taught me"), but they are structured differently. This matters when the subject is dropped.

Both are polite. ～ていただく is often felt as more polite because it puts the humble side (me) in the subject position, which feels less commanding.

9.4 Very common set patterns

• お＋stem＋いただく — "I humbly receive your ~ing." Formal version of ～ていただく. お待まちいただく, お読よみいただく, ご確認かくにんいただく.
• ～てくださって、ありがとうございます — "thank you for kindly ~ing." Standard thank-you.
• お越こしいただく ／ おいでいただく — "you kindly come." Used to thank customers or guests. 「本日ほんじつはお越こしいただき、ありがとうございます」.
• ご協力きょうりょくいただく — "we receive your cooperation." Standard in announcements.

9.5 Three-party direction (uchi/soto first)

When a third party is involved (your boss gave X to your client, your colleague did Y for the customer), apply uchi/soto before picking the verb:

• Giver = uchi, receiver = soto → ～てさしあげる ／ お～する (in speech, prefer お～する to avoid the patronising ring — see §9.1).
• Giver = soto (respected), receiver = uchi → ～てくださる ／ ～ていただく. This is the same rule as with 私わたし — your in-group members are treated as "me" for direction purposes.

See §8 · Uchi/soto for how uchi/soto is decided.

9.6 Particles, and the neutral verb outside the system

• Particles are fixed by direction. The giver takes が and the receiver に for くれる ／ くださる (先生せんせいが私わたしに). With もらう ／ いただく the receiver is the subject and the source takes に or から — から reads slightly more neutral and is the safer choice when the source is an organisation rather than a person.
• 与あたえる sits outside the favour system. It states a transfer as objective fact (影響えいきょうを与あたえる, 権限けんげんを与あたえる) with no direction of gratitude attached, which is why it belongs to written and formal register rather than to あげる ／ くれる ／ もらう. Using it of a personal favour sounds cold or top-down.
• 差さし上あげる is not simply "polite あげる." Because it raises the receiver from below, using it toward peers, children, or juniors sounds ceremonious to the point of sarcasm. Plain あげる aimed at a customer has the opposite problem — it frames you as doing them a favour. In service Japanese, restructure with お～する instead.

Making a request is one of the most common uses of keigo, and Japanese has many levels. Learn to recognise where a form sits on the ladder — you will see all of these in daily life, from convenience store signs to business email.

Three principles that set the level

1. Negative questions are more polite than positive ones. They leave room to say no. お待まちいただけませんか is more polite than お待まちいただけますか.
2. Longer forms are more polite than shorter ones. More words = more distance = more respect.
3. Kenjōgo (based on いただく) is often felt as more polite than Sonkeigo (based on ください). ください is a command from you to them; いただく puts you in the humble receiving position.

10.1 The ladder — "please wait" as an example

1. Casual

   待まって

   Between friends
2. Polite

   待まってください

   Neutral polite — textbook Japanese
3. Formal (Sonkeigo)

   お待まちください

   Signs, service, announcements (＋ませ in luxury service)
4. Business standard (Sonkeigo + Kenjōgo)

   お待まちいただけますか

   Spoken and written business default
5. Softer (negative question)

   お待まちいただけませんか

   Leaves room for no
6. Soft email request

   お待まちいただければ幸さいわいです

   "I would be grateful if." Very common in email
7. Most formal (email)

   お待まちいただけますようお願ねがい申もうし上あげます

   Formal email closing

10.2 Two patterns to recognise

Almost every polite request in Japanese is built from one of two patterns:

• お＋stem＋ください — Sonkeigo. "Please kindly do." You are asking them (respected) to do the action. Common in signs and one-way instructions.
• お＋stem＋いただく (+ …ますか / …ませんか / …ますよう / と幸さいわいです) — Kenjōgo. "I humbly receive your ~ing." You are the receiver. Common in email and personal requests.

Learn these two skeletons and you can decode almost any polite request.

10.3 Which rung do you start on?

The ladder shows what exists. Real requests pick one rung by matching relationship to medium. A rough starting map:

A common learner error is over-shooting: using …お願ねがい申もうし上あげます in an internal team email makes it sound like the recipient is an external client. Match the rung to the relationship.

10.4 Softening endings

You can make almost any request softer by adding an ending to the verb. These stack on top of the rung you picked. The other half of softening — the phrases you put in front of the request (恐おそれ入いりますが, お手数てすうですが, 差さし支つかえなければ) — is a separate choice with its own nuances: see A7 · Softeners and hedges.

• ～ませんか — negative question. Softer.
• ～ますようお願ねがい申もうし上あげます — the most formal email ending. Attaches to お～いただけます ／ ご～いただけます.
• ～のほど — legitimate formal softener, put before the closing: ご確認かくにんのほどよろしくお願ねがいいたします. Do not confuse with Baito-keigo ～のほう (see A5) — different word, different job.
• ～ますでしょうか — softens a yes/no question: ご覧らんいただけますでしょうか. Common in service and email. Avoid stacking on forms that already contain いただけます repeatedly — it starts to sound awkward.

Built-up example

1. Neutral polite

   待まってください
2. Formal

   お待まちください
3. Kenjōgo question

   お待まちいただけますか
4. More polite (negative)

   お待まちいただけませんか
5. Soft (with 幸いです)

   お待まちいただけると幸さいわいです
6. Most formal email version

   恐おそれ入いりますが、お待まちいただけますようお願ねがい申もうし上あげます

10.5 Some other rungs of note.

Height is not the only axis — a top-rung form aimed at a colleague reads as cold or sarcastic. Match the rung to the relationship and the medium (see §10.3), and see A8 · Reading tone for what over- and under-shooting sounds like.

• Using Sonkeigo about yourself or your side — the most common mistake for learners. If you catch yourself saying 私わたしがいらっしゃいます, switch to Kenjōgo (join → 参加さんかいたします, not join → ご参加さんかになります).
• Using Kenjōgo about the other side — お客様きゃくさまが申もうしておりました is wrong. Use おっしゃっていました.
• Mixing up くれる and あげる — the direction is fixed. 「先生せんせいが私わたしにあげた」is wrong. Use くれた (the teacher gave to me).
• ～て差さし上あげる in speech — grammatically Kenjōgo, but sounds like you are doing an unwanted favour. Prefer お～する or ～いたします.
• ご苦労くろうさま vs お疲つかれさま — ご苦労くろうさま is said from higher to lower (boss to subordinate). Do not say it to someone above you. Use お疲つかれさまです.
• Forgetting the special ～います form — ✗いらっしゃります → ○いらっしゃいます. The same for おっしゃる, なさる, くださる, ござる.

In 2007 the Japanese government (文化ぶんか審議会しんぎかい) split 謙譲語けんじょうご into two sub-types. What textbooks call "Kenjōgo" is actually two different things doing two different jobs:

Applying it to each pair

• 伺うかがう vs 参まいる — 明日あす、御社おんしゃに伺うかがいます (respected destination = 御社おんしゃ) vs 明日あす、大阪おおさかに参まいります (no respected target — just formal).
• 申もうし上あげる vs 申もうす — お礼れいを申もうし上あげます (thanks directed to someone) vs 田中たなかと申もうします (self-introduction; naming isn't directed at any specific respected person).
• 存ぞんじ上あげる vs 存ぞんじる — 田中たなか様さまは存ぞんじ上あげております (knowing a person you respect) vs その件けんは存ぞんじません (knowing a fact or proposition — no person to respect).

Reading examples

Why it matters when reading: when you see a Teichōgo verb (参まいる, 申もうす, いたす, 存ぞんじる, おる), it tells you the speaker is being polite to the listener, not necessarily to anyone in the sentence. It is the language of announcements, self-introductions, and business PA. Seeing おる alone (「席せきを外はずしております」) does not mean the subject is being looked down on — Teichōgo is just the formal register.

～れる ／ られる has three different uses that look the same:

1. Passive: 財布さいふを盗ぬすまれた ("my wallet was stolen").
2. Potential: 食たべられる ("can eat").
3. Honorific: 社長しゃちょうが話はなされた ("the president spoke").

Diagnostic — which one is it?

Business email and news often use honorific ～れる because it is shorter and less stiff than お～になる. If the subject is clearly a respected person and there is no passive agent, ～れる is honorific.

Two edge cases worth recognising

• Adversative passive. An に-marked agent + a nuance of harm to the speaker: 子供こどもに泣なかれた ("the child cried on me"), 雨あめに降ふられた ("got rained on"). Common in speech and fiction. Never honorific.
• Causative-passive. ～させられる ("was made to ~"): 残業ざんぎょうさせられた ("was forced to do overtime"). Distinct from both plain passive and honorific.

Trade-off: because ～れる is softer, it can feel not polite enough to very traditional readers. It also looks the same as the passive, so mistakes are easy to miss. お読よみになる is clear; 読よまれる is not.

In theory, this is Kenjōgo. Literally: "I receive the favour of being allowed to ～." In modern Japanese, this form has spread so widely that a NHK reader once said 「休業きゅうぎょうさせていただきます」when nobody's permission was needed.

• ○ 「本日ほんじつはお休やすみさせていただきます」— the listener has (in some way) given permission.
• ✗ 「拝見はいけんさせていただきます」— extra, because 拝見はいけんする is already Kenjōgo.
• ✗ 「田中たなかと呼よばせていただきます」— nobody gave permission; say 「田中たなかと申もうします」.

The gray zone. A large number of forms are heard constantly in business Japanese but fail the strict permission test: ご説明せつめいさせていただきます, ご紹介しょうかいさせていただきます, ご連絡れんらくさせていただきます, ご報告ほうこくさせていただきます, ご担当たんとうさせていただきます, お電話でんわさせていただきます, 退席たいせきさせていただきます. Native speakers accept them, but a stricter grammarian would replace each with the ～いたします version. Recognise them as widely used — do not treat them as cleanly correct or cleanly wrong.

It is widely used anyway. Understand it, but do not use it too often.

Stacking keigo on top of keigo is against the rules, but people often do it when they are nervous or want to sound extra polite.

• ✗ お読よみになられる (お～になる ＋ ～れる — two layers of Sonkeigo).
• ✗ ご覧らんになられる (same problem).
• ✗ おっしゃられる (おっしゃる is already Sonkeigo).

Some double forms have become standard and are now accepted:

• ○ お召めし上あがりになる (召めし上あがる ＋ お～になる).
• ○ お伺うかがいする (伺うかがう ＋ お～する).
• ○ 拝見はいけんいたします (拝見はいけん ＋ いたす) — two humble elements from different word-classes doing different jobs. Not treated as 二重にじゅう敬語けいご by native speakers.

Mixing the two registers

The examples above stack the same register twice. The other failure is stacking different ones onto a single action — a humble root carrying an honorific marker, or the reverse. The result is not merely over-polite; it points the respect in two directions at once.

• ✗ 拝見はいけんされました — 拝見はいけん lowers the speaker, ～れる raises the subject. For someone else's looking, use ご覧らんになりました. The same fault gives ✗ ご拝見はいけんになる.
• ✗ 申もうされました — 申もうす is humble, so this lowers the very person you meant to raise. Use おっしゃいました.
• ✗ いただかれる / ✗ お～になっていただく — a humble verb with an honorific ending, or an honorific pattern feeding a humble one. Pick whose action it is first, then use one register for it.

When reading: stacked keigo means the speaker is either (a) using a form that has become standard, or (b) making a mistake because they are nervous. Both are common.

A group of retail and service phrases that grammar books call wrong, but that you will hear every day in convenience stores and restaurants.

• ✗ よろしかったでしょうか → ○ よろしいでしょうか (wrong tense — the check is happening now, not in the past).
• ✗ ～のほう (「お会計かいけいのほう、一万円いちまんえんになります」) → ○ お会計かいけいは一万円いちまんえんです (のほう adds nothing and makes the reference unclear).
• ✗ ～から (「一万円いちまんえんからお預あずかりします」) → ○ 一万円いちまんえんお預あずかりします (から has no meaning here).
• ✗ ～になります used for identity (「こちらがコーヒーになります」) → ○ こちらがコーヒーです (nothing is becoming anything; になる is for change).

Native speakers react differently. Older listeners get annoyed; younger speakers hardly notice.

These are keigo used as fixed phrases. Native readers understand them as chunks, not word by word. Each phrase has a specific slot — using the wrong one for the wrong relationship is a common giveaway.

Openers

• お世話せわになっております — standard external opener (email or phone). Implies an ongoing relationship. For a first-ever contact, use 初はじめてご連絡れんらくいたします or 突然とつぜんのご連絡れんらく失礼しつれいいたします instead.
• お疲つかれ様さまです — internal only. Standard opener for emails inside your company. ✗ Do not use with clients — it implies they are a colleague. Use お世話せわになっております instead.
• ご返信へんしんが遅おそくなり大変たいへん失礼しつれいいたしました — apology opener when you're replying late. Slot it before the main message.

Closings

• よろしくお願ねがいいたします — the standard closing. It is a closing, not an opener — do not put it at the top of an email.
• 何卒なにとぞよろしくお願ねがい申もうし上あげます — the most polite closing. Formal external email, first-contact, or requests to senior parties.
• 取とり急いそぎ、ご連絡れんらくまで — "quick note" sign-off. Signals brevity, appropriate when replying fast. Do not use for formal or first-contact emails.

And what about actual letters?

A formal letter — a printed notice, a greeting card, a ceremonial invitation — keeps an apparatus that email dropped. It runs 拝啓はいけい → a seasonal line (時候じこうの挨拶あいさつ, or the all-season stand-in 時下じか when you do not want to name a season) → a prosperity greeting → your actual message → 敬具けいぐ.

• ご清栄せいえい — prosperity of an organisation: 貴社きしゃますますご清栄せいえいのこととお慶よろこび申もうし上あげます.
• ご健勝けんしょう — health of a person, so it is the one you use when writing to an individual rather than a company.
• 拝眉はいびの上うえ — "when I see you in person," for written appointments. Dated: worth recognising in an old-fashioned letter, not worth writing yourself — お目めにかかった際さいに or 直接ちょくせつご説明せつめいいたします is the current way to say it.

But what about messaging? (Slack, LINE, WhatsApp)

• Workplace chat (Slack / Teams): お疲つかれ様さまです becomes the universal opener — お世話せわになっております sounds oddly stiff in internal chat. Letter-style structure disappears entirely.
• Closings shrink: よろしくお願ねがいいたします survives as the all-purpose sign-off. What disappears is the letter apparatus — 拝啓はいけい／敬具けいぐ and seasonal greetings (時候じこうの挨拶あいさつ). Sign-offs like 取とり急いそぎ、ご連絡れんらくまで still appear in chat, just less obligatory than in email.
• Personal messaging (LINE / WhatsApp) with someone above you — a teacher, senpai, or older acquaintance: keep です／ます, drop the business set phrases. A bare polite sentence is correct, not rude. For emoji and stamps, follow the other person's lead.

Phrases you drop into a request to reduce its bite. Each one signals a different flavour of hedging — they are not interchangeable.

• 恐おそれ入いりますが — "sorry to trouble you, but ~." The all-purpose front-loaded apology. Neutral, works for almost any imposition.
• お手数てすうですが — "sorry for the bother, but ~." Slightly more concrete than 恐おそれ入いりますが. Names the imposition as a hassle.
• お手数てすうをおかけしますが — stronger version, specifically for multi-step tasks (print, sign, scan). Explicitly acknowledges the effort you are asking for.
• 差さし支つかえなければ — "if it causes you no inconvenience ~." Signals that the listener is free to decline. Use for optional or sensitive asks (差さし支つかえなければ、ご予算よさんを教おしえていただけますでしょうか).
• ～のほど — legitimate formal softener placed before the closing: ご確認かくにんのほどよろしくお願ねがいいたします. Do not confuse with Baito-keigo ～のほう (see A5) — same syllables, different word, different role.
• ～と幸さいわいです ／ ～ば幸さいわいです — "I would be grateful if ~." Softens a request into a wish. See §10 for placement on the ladder.

Keigo has two independent axes. The first is politeness height — plain → です／ます → お～する ／ お～になる → いたします ／ 申もうし上あげる. The second is tone and register — how much softening is present, and whether the writer is being ceremonial or conversational. A message can be perfectly polite by height and still read as cold, impatient, or slightly annoyed.

Missing softeners read as impatience

When a message drops the softeners the reader was expecting (see A7), the tone shifts even if the keigo itself stays correct. Same request, three tones:

いただければと思おもいます — polite but conversational

Compare three closings for the same ask:

• お送おくりいただけますようお願ねがい申もうし上あげます — ceremonial. Standard for a formal external email, first contact, or senior recipient.
• お送おくりいただければ幸さいわいです — softer wish. Formal but less binding — appropriate when the ask is optional or when you want to give the reader room.
• お送おくりいただければと思おもいます — polite, conversational. Fully in keigo, but literally "I would think it good if you sent it" — less of a formal request, more of a shared expectation. Common in Slack, Teams, and internal follow-ups where the ceremonial closing would feel over-formal.

Some strict style guides push back on ～いただければと思おもいます for high-stakes external asks — 思おもいます literally makes it a wish rather than a request, which can read as vague. Recognise it as polite; use it where a conversational register fits.

Chunks that show up in specific business situations. Recognise them as one unit.

Sending and receiving documents

• ご査収さしゅうください — "please check and accept." Standard when attaching documents to an email.
• 拝受はいじゅいたしました — "I have humbly received (your document)." Formal receipt acknowledgment, stronger than 受うけ取とりました.
• お納おさめください — "please accept (this gift)." For gifts, not documents.

Phone and message relay

• 申もうし伝つたえます — humble verb for relaying a message on behalf of an in-group member. 田中たなかに申もうし伝つたえます — "I will pass this on to Tanaka."
• 席せきを外はずしております — "is away from their desk." Set phone-Japanese phrase.

Notices and warnings

• ご了承りょうしょうください ／ ご了承りょうしょう願ねがいます — "please understand / please note." Used when announcing an inconvenience (closures, price changes).
• お含ふくみおきください — "please bear this in mind." Slightly softer than ご了承りょうしょうください.

Asking the public to refrain, or to cooperate

A separate family from ご了承りょうしょうください: that one announces an inconvenience you have already decided on, while these ask for behaviour.

• ご遠慮えんりょください — "please refrain from ~." The standard prohibition on signs and in announcements, softer than 禁止きんし because it asks rather than forbids. ご遠慮えんりょいただいております reports it as standing policy ("we ask that guests refrain"), and ご遠慮えんりょいただけますでしょうか turns it into a direct, face-saving request to one person.
• ご協力きょうりょくをお願ねがいいたします — the closing that pairs with a restriction. ご協力きょうりょくいただきますよう、お願ねがい申もうし上あげます is the formal written version, and ご理解りかいとご協力きょうりょく pairs the two nouns when you are asking people to accept something inconvenient as well as act on it — standard in hospital and public-facing notices.
• お読よみいただく — the preface frame for documents ("please read ~ before proceeding"), often as お読よみいただいた上うえで.
• 承うけたまわる — "to receive" an order, request, or message, formally. ご注文ちゅうもんを承うけたまわります in service; 承うけたまわりました as the acknowledgment.

Four phrases all mean "I understand / I've got it," but they sit on distinct rungs. Picking the wrong one — especially 了解りょうかいしました to a client — is a common learner error.

Default to 承知しょうちしました in business email when in doubt — it's polite enough for anyone above you, and not so stiff that it feels out of place.

What the upgrade actually is

Most of this cheatsheet is about who you raise or lower. This card is about a different dial: keeping the meaning and the direction identical while raising the register of the words themselves. The mechanism is usually 和語わご giving way to 漢語かんご — 後あとで becomes 追おって, 思おもいます becomes 存ぞんじます — sometimes with a humble verb ending on top.

Everyday polite → formal written

Where it stops helping

• Register has to match the channel. 幸甚こうじんに存ぞんじます in a chat message to a teammate is not extra respect; it reads as a joke or a rebuke.
• Some of these are narrow, not general. ご笑納しょうのうください belongs to a gift note and nowhere else — used of documents it is simply the wrong phrase. ご容赦ようしゃください asks pardon for an inconvenience, not for a mistake you are apologising for.
• Formality is not the same as currency. ご理解りかいください and ご了承りょうしょうください are everyday business vocabulary, but the stiffer written ご賢察けんさつください has largely fallen out of use — many working adults would not use it, and some would not recognise it. Read it if it arrives; do not reach for it.
• Upgrading everything is its own tell. One or two of these lift a message; a message built entirely from them reads as a template rather than a person writing.

Where to go from here:

1. The government's keigo guideline (敬語けいごの指針ししん) — the 2007 文化ぶんか審議会しんぎかい document behind the five-category classification this cheatsheet uses (see A1 and §6). Reading the original — worked examples and all — is itself good keigo practice.
2. Full letter conventions — A6 covers what survives in email; full letters add the hurried-note pair 前略ぜんりゃく・草々そうそう and a month-by-month repertoire of seasonal greetings (時候じこうの挨拶あいさつ). Very stylised — you can learn them as templates.
3. Regional and generational differences — Kansai keigo (～はる as a softened honorific), younger speakers avoiding overly stiff forms, differences between feminine and masculine registers.
4. Reading real material — NHK announcements, department store PA, business email templates, keigo in 時代劇じだいげき (period dramas — often uses old-style keigo).