Honorific, Humble, and Polite Language Japanese Grammar Lessons

～させていただけませんか is a very polite, humble way to ask for permission so that you yourself may do something. It stacks a causative te-form with humble いただく and a polite negative question, and is common in business, customer service, and careful talk with superiors. Learners meet it as an N4 enrichment pattern after plainer permission forms such as ～てもいいですか and ～させてください.

お／ご～になります is a productive honorific (sonkeigo) pattern used to describe or ask about another person's action with clear respect. You form it with お + the pre-ます form of many everyday verbs, or with ご + a Sino-Japanese verbal noun, then になります. Learners meet it in workplace, service, and formal speech when talking about teachers, customers, guests, or superiors—not for the speaker's own actions.

お／ご～します is a productive humble (kenjougo) pattern that lowers the speaker’s own action—or an in-group member’s action—when that action is done for, toward, or in relation to someone of higher status. You build it from a verb’s pre-ます form with お (drop ます from the polite form and keep the pre-ます form), or from a Sino-Japanese verbal noun with ご, then add します (or other polite する endings). Learners meet it around JLPT N4 in service talk, workplace speech, and careful polite Japanese, often alongside nearby honorific and request patterns that look similar but work differently.

でございます is an elevated polite copula, the more formal counterpart to ordinary です after nouns and na-adjectives. Learners meet it in customer service, reception, announcements, and careful business self-introductions at the N4 enrichment stage. It raises formality on identity and description predicates; it is not an action-verb ending and is not the same as existence ございます.

ございます is the elevated polite counterpart of あります. It states that an inanimate thing exists, is located somewhere, or is available, but with a more polished service or formal tone. Learners meet it often in shops, hotels, announcements, and careful public speech. The particles stay the same as ordinary ある / あります patterns; only the predicate rises in register. Use it for things, facilities, time, and abstract availability—not as the main predicate for a person who is present.

いらっしゃいます is the polite honorific (sonkeigo) form of いらっしゃる. Speakers use it about another person they elevate—such as a customer, guest, teacher, or superior—in place of ordinary 行きます, 来ます, or います. One surface form covers motion and animate presence; particles, place words, and the situation show whether the intended meaning is go, come, or be present. Learners usually meet it in service, reception, and workplace talk at N4, where showing respect for the other person’s actions or presence is expected.

なさいます is the polite honorific form that stands in for します when you describe the action of someone you elevate, such as a customer, guest, boss, or teacher. It is the ます form of honorific なさる and belongs to honorific language (sonkeigo), not humble language, so you never use it for your own action. Learners meet it in workplace, service, and formal school talk as basic keigo study at the N4 level.

召し上がります is an honorific (sonkeigo) verb used when a respected person eats or drinks. It replaces ordinary 食べます and 飲みます for that person in one fixed polite form. You meet it often in restaurants, hotels, guest hosting, and careful workplace speech about customers, clients, teachers, or bosses. Use it only for the other person’s eating or drinking; for your own meal, keep 食べます／飲みます or the meal-ritual いただきます, not 召し上がります.

おっしゃいます is a fixed honorific (sonkeigo) verb that raises the act of saying when the speaker is someone you respect, such as a customer, teacher, or superior. It is the polite non-past form of おっしゃる and stands in for ordinary 言います when you report or ask about that person’s words, not your own. Learners usually meet it in N4 keigo study, service talk, and business Japanese, where choosing the right respect direction matters as much as tense or quotation.

ご覧になります is the fixed honorific (sonkeigo) verb that elevates another person’s looking, seeing, or watching in place of plain 見ます. You meet it often in customer service, hospitality, and formal workplace speech when the subject is a guest, client, teacher, or boss. Use it only for the respected person’s action; for your own looking at someone else’s materials, the matching humble form is 拝見します.

申します is the polite ます form of the special humble verb 申す, used as a refined alternative to 言います when you report your own name or words. Learners meet it in basic keigo through the fixed pattern name + と申します, the standard formal self-introduction in business and first meetings. Use it for the speaker or in-group, not for a listener’s or superior’s speech; that honorific side of 言う is a separate form.

伺います is a humble polite form of the verb 伺う. Speakers use it to lower their own action when they go somewhere, visit someone, or ask for information. It often stands in for ordinary polite 行きます, 訪ねます, or 聞きます in business and formal talk toward a client, superior, or teacher. Particles and context decide the reading: に points to a go or visit meaning, while を or a lead-in such as 伺いますが points to a polite ask meaning.

拝見します is humble language (kenjougo) for 見る. You use it when you look at, check, or read materials connected to the listener or an outsider. It is common in business speech, customer service, and polite email when you acknowledge that you will review a document, form, or message—or that you already have. Ordinary 見ます stays better for casual seeing, and ご覧になります is the honorific form for the other person’s looking.

いただきます is a humble polite form used when the speaker receives something, or when the speaker eats or drinks with a grateful stance. It is the everyday counterpart learners meet for もらう, 食べる, and 飲む in keigo and hospitality settings, and it also appears alone as the fixed phrase before a meal. At N4, the key skill is keeping the social direction right: いただきます is for the speaker’s own receiving, eating, or drinking—not for giving, and not for the listener’s action.

まいります is a fixed polite verb that replaces 行きます and 来ます when the speaker or an in-group person goes or comes. It lowers or carefully polishes the speaker’s own movement, so it fits staff talk, reception, and formal self-reporting better than plain polite 行きます／来ます. Learners meet it in N4 keigo enrichment as a ready-made humble or courteous substitute, not as a conjugation built from 行く or 来る.

～はる is a spoken Kansai honorific verb ending that marks another person's action with mild everyday respect. You form it from the pre-ます form (the same base used before ます), and you mainly meet past はった and progressive はってる in real conversation and media. It is regional soft respect, not a full substitute for nationwide formal keigo, and it is not used for the speaker's own actions in ordinary respectful talk.