Here's the reframe that makes keigo learnable: it isn't a new language. It's three small systems with three clear jobs, a conversion table of about twenty special verbs, and a handful of business set phrases that do most of the daily work. This guide covers all of it, with the real-world business examples textbooks skip.
Prerequisite: N4-level grammar, especially the passive form — see the Verb Conjugation Master Guide.
The Core Idea: Social Direction, Not Politeness Level
English politeness is a volume knob: "gimme" → "could you possibly." Keigo is a compass. The question is never just "how polite?" but "whose action am I describing, and where do they stand relative to me?"
| Type | Japanese | Job | Whose actions? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teineigo | 丁寧語 | general politeness | anyone's (it's just style) |
| Sonkeigo | 尊敬語 | respect — elevates | the other person's actions |
| Kenjougo | 謙譲語 | humility — lowers | your own (and your group's) actions |
One sentence can use all three:
社長がおっしゃったことを、私から皆様にお伝えいたします。
"I will convey to everyone what the president said."
(おっしゃった = sonkeigo for the president's speaking; お伝えいたします = kenjougo for my conveying; ます = teineigo throughout.)
The uchi/soto rule (the part foreigners miss)
Japanese divides the world into uchi (内, in-group: yourself, your family, your company) and soto (外, out-group: customers, other companies). The critical consequence:
When talking to outsiders, you humble your own boss.
To a client, about your own president:
田中はただ今、席を外しております。 ✓
"(Our) Tanaka is away from his desk." — no さん, humble verb!
Calling your boss 田中社長がいらっしゃいます to a client is a classic foreigner/new-employee error. Inside the company he's elevated; representing the company to outsiders, he's "uchi" and gets humbled with you.
Level 1: Teineigo (丁寧語) — Polite Style
You already know it: です/ます. Two upgrades complete it:
- ございます — the formal ある: 「お手洗いは二階にございます。」 ("The restroom is on the second floor.")
- Beautifying prefixes お/ご — お water (お水), お money (お金), ご family (ご家族). Rule of thumb: お + native Japanese words, ご + Sino-Japanese words. Some are so fused they're obligatory: ご飯, お茶, お腹.
Level 2: Sonkeigo (尊敬語) — Elevating Others
Three mechanisms, from strongest to weakest:
Mechanism 1: Special replacement verbs (strongest)
| Plain verb | Sonkeigo | Example |
|---|---|---|
| いる／行く／来る | いらっしゃる | 先生はいらっしゃいますか。 |
| 言う | おっしゃる | お名前は何とおっしゃいますか。 |
| する | なさる | ご注文はどうなさいますか。 |
| 食べる／飲む | 召し上がる | どうぞ召し上がってください。 |
| 見る | ご覧になる | こちらをご覧ください。 |
| 知っている | ご存じだ | ご存じですか。 |
| くれる | くださる | 先生がくださった本 |
Conjugation quirk: いらっしゃる, おっしゃる, なさる, くださる drop the る irregularly in masu 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 (not いらっしゃります).
Mechanism 2: お/ご～になる
部長はもうお帰りになりました。 — "The manager has already gone home."
Formula: お + masu-stem + になる (ご + noun + になる for suru-verbs: ご利用になる).
Mechanism 3: Honorific passive (lightest)
The passive form doubles as light honorific speech — very common in business:
社長は明日の会議に出席されますか。
"Will the president attend tomorrow's meeting?"
Ranking: 召し上がる > お食べになる > 食べられる — all sonkeigo for "eat," in descending strength. Special verbs always beat formulas when both exist.
Level 3: Kenjougo (謙譲語) — Humbling Yourself
Special replacement verbs
| Plain verb | Kenjougo | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 行く／来る | 参る(まいる) | 明日、御社に参ります。 |
| いる | おる | 東京に住んでおります。 |
| 言う | 申す／申し上げる | 田中と申します。 |
| する | いたす | 私がご案内いたします。 |
| 食べる／飲む／もらう | いただく | お先にいただきます。 |
| 見る | 拝見する | 資料を拝見しました。 |
| 聞く／訪ねる | 伺う(うかがう) | 明日、伺ってもよろしいですか。 |
| 会う | お目にかかる | お目にかかれて光栄です。 |
| あげる | 差し上げる | こちらを差し上げます。 |
| 知っている | 存じておる | 存じております。 |
The お/ご～する formula
お荷物をお持ちします。 — "I'll carry your bags."
ご説明いたします。 — "Allow me to explain."
Formula: お + masu-stem + する/いたす — for your actions that involve or benefit the other person.
Common mistake (huge): using お～する for actions unrelated to the listener. お持ちします works because you're carrying their bag. But 「日曜日にお買い物おしました」 for your own shopping is wrong — kenjougo needs a beneficiary.
The Master Conversion Table
The twenty verbs that constitute 90% of keigo:
| Plain | Sonkeigo (them ↑) | Kenjougo (me ↓) |
|---|---|---|
| 行く go | いらっしゃる | 参る／伺う |
| 来る come | いらっしゃる／お越しになる | 参る |
| いる be | いらっしゃる | おる |
| 言う say | おっしゃる | 申す／申し上げる |
| する do | なさる | いたす |
| 食べる eat | 召し上がる | いただく |
| 見る see | ご覧になる | 拝見する |
| 聞く ask | — (お聞きになる) | 伺う |
| 会う meet | — (お会いになる) | お目にかかる |
| 知る know | ご存じ | 存じる |
| あげる give | — | 差し上げる |
| くれる give me | くださる | — |
| もらう receive | — | いただく |
Direction check: if you catch yourself saying 私がいらっしゃいます or 社長が参ります (to an insider), the compass is pointing backward. Sonkeigo can never describe your own actions; kenjougo (almost) never describes a superior's.
Business Japanese: The Set Phrases That Run Offices
Real keigo competence is mostly phrases, not freestyle conjugation. These run Japanese working life:
Email and phone openers
いつもお世話になっております。
"Thank you for your continued support." — opens virtually every business email and call. Untranslatable, obligatory.
お忙しいところ恐れ入りますが…
"I'm sorry to trouble you when you're busy, but…" — the universal request cushion.
On the phone
〇〇社の田中と申します。山田様はいらっしゃいますか。
"This is Tanaka from XX Corp. Is Mr. Yamada available?"
少々お待ちください。 — "One moment, please."
田中はただ今、外出しております。 — "(Our) Tanaka is currently out." (uchi/soto in action)
Requests
ご確認いただけますでしょうか。 — "Could you kindly confirm?"
～していただけますと幸いです。 — "I would be grateful if you could…" (email-formal)
Customer service (you'll hear these daily in Japan)
いらっしゃいませ。 — "Welcome!"
少々お待ちくださいませ。 — "Please wait a moment."
かしこまりました。 — "Certainly." (kenjougo "understood")
申し訳ございません。 — "We sincerely apologize."
Leaving work
お先に失礼します。 — "Excuse me for leaving before you."
お疲れ様でした。 — "Thank you for your hard work." (Never ご苦労様 to a superior — that's reserved for superiors addressing subordinates.)
Common Mistakes (Including Ones Japanese People Make)
- Double keigo (二重敬語). Stacking two honorifics: おっしゃられる ✗ (おっしゃる is already sonkeigo; adding られる doubles it). Correct: おっしゃる. Same with お召し上がりになられる ✗.
- Elevating your own group to outsiders. 「うちの社長がおっしゃいました」 to a client ✗ → 「社長の田中が申しました」 ✓.
- Wrong direction. 私が拝見してください ✗ — mixing kenjougo (拝見) with a request to someone else. ご覧ください ✓.
- 了解しました to superiors. Common but flagged in business etiquette: use かしこまりました (to customers) or 承知しました (to bosses).
- ～させていただく overuse. 発表させていただきます is fine; chaining it five times per paragraph (a real modern plague, even among natives) sounds obsequious. Use いたします for most "I will do" cases.
- Keigo on the wrong nouns. お/ご go on things connected to the other person (ご意見 = your opinion) — not your own (私のご意見 ✗).
- Freezing. The worst error is silence while you assemble perfect keigo. A simple です/ます sentence delivered confidently beats a stalled sonkeigo construction every time.
How to Learn Keigo Without Drowning
- Lock in teineigo first. Consistent です/ます with zero slips is more impressive than patchy sonkeigo. This alone covers tourist and classroom life.
- Learn recognition before production. You'll hear keigo (shops, announcements, bosses) long before you must produce it. Passive understanding of the master table is the N3-level goal; production is N2+.
- Memorize phrases, not rules. お世話になっております as a chunk beats deriving it. Business Japanese is 80% fixed expressions.
- Drill the big seven verbs. いらっしゃる, おっしゃる, なさる, 召し上がる ↔ 参る, 申す, いたす, いただく cover most real usage.
- Listen for it. Train-station announcements, convenience-store interactions, and our listening practice (N3 and above) are keigo immersion. The JLPT tests keigo from N4 (recognition) through N2 (nuance).
- Practice the uchi/soto flip. Roleplay one phone call: a client asks for your boss. If 田中はおりません comes out naturally, you understand keigo's soul.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the three types of keigo?
Teineigo (丁寧語) — general polite style (です/ます); sonkeigo (尊敬語) — respectful forms elevating the other person's actions; kenjougo (謙譲語) — humble forms lowering your own actions. Official Japanese guidelines split keigo into five categories (separating courteous 丁重語 and beautification 美化語), but the three-way model covers practical usage.
Do Japanese people actually use keigo every day?
Constantly — every shop interaction, phone call, email, and workplace conversation runs on it. But everyday keigo is heavily formulaic: a few dozen set phrases cover the vast majority of situations.
Is keigo on the JLPT?
Yes. N4 introduces basic forms (いらっしゃる, お～ください), N3 tests the conversion verbs and honorific passive, and N2/N1 test subtle correctness (double keigo, uchi/soto direction, business phrasing).
What's the difference between 申す and 申し上げる?
Both are humble "say." 申す humbles you generally (田中と申します — introducing yourself); 申し上げる implies a specific exalted recipient of your words (お礼を申し上げます — expressing thanks to you).
When should I NOT use keigo?
With friends, family, and (usually) colleagues of the same rank — there, keigo creates distance and can read as cold or sarcastic. Matching the politeness level of your relationship is itself a keigo skill.
How do native speakers learn keigo?
Partly by immersion, partly by formal study — schools teach it, and companies run keigo training for new hires. Bookstore shelves of keigo manuals for adults are proof that finding keigo hard doesn't make you bad at Japanese; it makes you normal.
Summary and Next Steps
Keigo is a compass, not a volume knob: teineigo sets polite style, sonkeigo elevates their actions, kenjougo lowers yours — and the uchi/soto rule means your own boss gets humbled when you face the outside world. Master the twenty conversion verbs, collect business set phrases as chunks, avoid double keigo, and remember that confident です/ます beats stalled perfection.
Continue on NihongoDoya:
- The passive form behind honorific speech: Verb Conjugation Master Guide
- The grammar levels that lead here: N3 Grammar Guide
- Hear keigo in context: N3 Listening · N2 Listening
- Plan your route to business-level Japanese: Ultimate JLPT Study Roadmap