Here are a few examples of sentences where Son keigo is applied.ĭo you know that person's name? 本日お休みですか？ This form is more frequently used compared to the above forms because although it is formal, it is less formal than the conjugations above. For this version of verbs, there are no exceptions and are exactly the same as the passive forms of verbs. This form of verbs is an alternative to the above verb form. Here is a sample sentence comparing the normal polite form and the son keigo form. Learning the Japanese Keigo: Son keigo for intermediate level | Learn Japanese Online English In situations where you would like to ask someone (of higher status than you) to do something for you, you can change the formula to (お＋ますstem＋ください）. To make it easier for students, it is easier to memorize the verb exceptions rather than the normal verb conjugation “になる”. There are no actual rule that applies to them since it depends on the actual word itself. Although there are a few exceptions (which we will discuss later), most verbs use this conjugation.Įvery rule has its exception and for Son keigo conjugation rules, there’s definitely more than one.

Verbs in their son keigo form uses o as a prefix, omits the masu at the end of the verb and replaces it with “になる”, or the “ polite” honorific version, “になります”. Similar to Teineigo, Son keigo uses the prefixes, ーお and ーご for adjectives and nouns to show respect and politeness to the person you are talking to.Īll verbs’ conjugation (お＋ますstem＋になる/になります） Learn Japanese online with BondLingo 248K subscribers Join Subscribe 636 Share Save 14K views 3 years ago BondLingo All textbooks and Whole Premium Videos with tests) 1 on1 Private lesson.

Son keigo basics Attaching ーお and ーご before nouns This would make you sound too formal or a bit 変（hen: strange). Because this is a form of speech used for people of higher status, you should never use this for yourself or for close family members. Essentially, this can be heard in a business setting or formal introductions/conversations with people who are of a higher status than yourself. This can mainly be used to your boss, a senior at work, elders or maybe even customers. Son keigo (尊敬語、そんけいご) or the honorifics keigo is used when you are talking to or talking about a superior or person in a position of power. There are three different types of Keigo and we will be discussing Son keigo for this blog. Although it sounds quite easy to tell the difference between formal and informal Japanese, keigo is quite understandably more complicated to learn compared to informal Japanese. This will be quite useful for foreigners who wish to someday work in a Japanese company where Japanese is used as their main tool for communication. Japan is quite known for how polite and respectful the culture is so knowing keigo will be beneficial for people who would want to settle down and gain employment in Japan. Keigo is usually used for teachers, employers, elders, clients, customers… you get the jist. This can be used when talking to people that are of higher social status or someone with power. Keigo (敬語 respectful language) is the polite or formal way of Japanese speech.

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