分からないで

🎯 Goal: Today you’ll learn how to speak respectfully about someone who ranks above you. You use respectful language when referring to teachers, supervisors, clients, or anyone in a higher position — but never for yourself.

You use respectful language (Sonkeigo) when the person you’re talking about is on a higher social level than you.

Because you’re not allowed to elevate yourself, you use the regular masu‑form for your own actions at this stage.

For someone else’s actions, you use special vocabulary — the so‑called honorific verbs.

🗣️ Your own actions (normal verbs)

Japanese	English
わたしは いきます。	I go.
わたしは たべます。	I eat.
わたしは いいます。	I say.
わたしは がくせいです。	I am a student.

→ When talking about yourself, you simply use the regular masu‑form.

👤 Actions of a respected person (Sonkeigo)

Japanese	English
せんせいは いらっしゃいます。	The honored teacher arrives / is present.
おきゃくさまは めしあがります。	The honored guest dines.
ぶちょうは おっしゃいます。	The honored department head speaks.
やまだせんせいは おきょうしでいらっしゃいます。	Professor Yamada is a teacher.

→ For other people, you use special honorific verbs to express respect.

To highlight the grammatical nature of Keigo and honorific titles, I intentionally exaggerate the English translations with words like “honored” or “esteemed.” It’s a useful learning technique, even though you wouldn’t normally phrase it this way in everyday English.

📚 Common Sonkeigo verbs

Plain Style	masu‑Form	Sonkeigo Verb	Meaning
いく くる いる	いきます きます います	いらっしゃいます	to go, come, or be (exist) 🚶🏃
する	します	なさいます	to do 🛠️✨
いう	いいます	おっしゃいます	to speak, say 🗣️💬
たべる のむ	たべます のみます	めしあがります	to eat, drink (to dine) 🍽️☕
みる	みます	ごらんになります	to look at, watch 👀📺
ねる	ねます	おやすみになります	to sleep 😴🛏️
きる（着る）	きます	おめしになります	to wear, put on 👔👘
だ である	です であります	でいらっしゃいます	to be (copula)

→ These verbs must be learned as vocabulary — they cannot be derived by rule.

At this stage, we learn honorific verbs end in their masu-form. I’ll cover their dictionary forms at the end of the series.

Sometimes a single Sonkeigo verb covers several normal verbs. If you struggle with the difference between いく/くる, you’ll be relieved to know that in Sonkeigo you don’t need to worry about that distinction.

In practice, context makes it clear whether the meaning is “to go,” “to come,” or “to be.”

🧾 Example: Context determines the meaning of いらっしゃいます

A：せんせいは いらっしゃいますか？
A: Is the honorable teacher here?
B：はい、じむしょに いらっしゃいます。
B: Yes, he’s in his office.

🔍 Here, いらっしゃいます means “to be present” (いる).

A：せんせいは いつ いらっしゃいますか？
A: When will the honorable teacher arrive?
B：３じに いらっしゃいます。
B: He’ll arrive around three.

🔍 Here, いらっしゃいます means “to come” (くる). The time reference makes the meaning clear.

📌 Key reminder:

If you know where, when, or to where someone is, you also know what いらっしゃいます means.

⁉️ But what about ある?

You may have noticed that there is no Sonkeigo form of the verb ある. This is because Sonkeigo is used when talking about people, while ある, in general, is used for inanimate objects.

However, the Sonkeigo form of the copula です is でいらっしゃいます:

しつれいですが、ヤマダせんせいでいらっしゃいますか。
Excuse me, but are you the honorable Yamada Sensei?

→ Tip: Learn でいらっしゃいます as a separate word, just as you learnt です.

📝 Fill‑in‑the‑blank exercise: Recognizing and using Sonkeigo

💬 Dialog

Markus has just learned the basics of Sonkeigo. He meets his Japanese teacher, Aiko‑sensei, and wants to show her what he has learned. Help Markus express himself respectfully.

👨‍🎓 Markus: こんにちは、あいこせんせい。おげんきですか。
👩‍🏫 Aiko: はい、げんきです。マルクさんは？
👨‍🎓 Markus: はい、わたしも げんきです。せんせいは きょう、がっこうへ いきますか。
👩‍🏫 Aiko: はい、いきます。にほんごのクラスが あります。
👨‍🎓 Markus: そうですか。なんじに いきますか。
👩‍🏫 Aiko: ごぜん９じに いきます。マルクさんも いきますか。
👨‍🎓 Markus: はい、９じに がっこうへ いきます。いっしょに いきましょうか。
👩‍🏫 Aiko: ありがとうございます。いっしょに いきましょう。

🔍 Corrected version

👨‍🎓 Markus: こんにちは、あいこせんせい。おげんきでいらっしゃいますか。
👩‍🏫 Aiko: はい、げんきです。マルクさんは？
👨‍🎓 Markus: はい、わたしも げんきです。せんせいは きょう、がっこうへ いらっしゃいますか。
👩‍🏫 Aiko: はい、いきます。にほんごのクラスが あります。
👨‍🎓 Markus: そうですか。なんじに いらっしゃいますか。
👩‍🏫 Aiko: ごぜん９じに いきます。マルクさんも いきますか。
👨‍🎓 Markus: はい、９じに がっこうへ いきます。いっしょに いきましょうか¹⁾。
👩‍🏫 Aiko: ありがとうございます。いっしょに いきましょう。

¹⁾ This may feel counterintuitive, but Markus cannot use Sonkeigo here. He is inviting his teacher to do something together. Using Sonkeigo would raise himself to her level — which is not allowed in respectful speech. There is actually a more elegant way to handle situations like this, using a separate humble form called Kenjougo, which lowers the speaker rather than raising the listener. We'll get to it in a later lesson. For now, the desu-masu style is perfectly acceptable here. 

🎬 Wrap‑up

You don’t need to understand every nuance yet — it’s enough to learn the honorific verbs as vocabulary for now. As a simple rule of thumb, remember this:

• ✅ I’m talking about someone else (e.g., a teacher, a client)
  • I use a Sonkeigo verb (e.g., いらっしゃる, ごらんになる)
• ❌ I’m talking about myself
  • I use the masu‑form (e.g., いきます, みます)

We’ll build on this step by step over the next few days.

Follow up with: Day 2 - Sonkeigo Part II