Questions tagged [honorifics]
Affixes, particles and conjugations applied to words to mark respect.
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How does last name-kun compare to 1st name-san?
Let's say the person is John Smith, first name John, last Smith.
Comparing the following pairs is easy. The latter is more formal than the former.
John-kun vs John-san
Smith-kun vs Smith-san
John-kun ...
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I'm making a paint and using Japanese names for characters, Are the honorific/royal titles redundant?
Disclaimer: I'm learning Japanese language but my level is really low
I took painting as a hobby and I want to use the characters names using Katakana and Kanji. The character I'm painting is Bowsette ...
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Why can places get a さん suffix when they are not a person?
For example:
薬屋さんに行った。
初めてくるお風呂屋さんは楽しい。
講堂さんにてライブがあります。
First, what nuance is added by adding a さん?
Second, can this be done with any place?
Third, it seems like the frequency of usage varies a lot ...
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他のうちの人に、来たことを知らせます。社長室に入ります。何と言いますか。
社長室に入ります。何と言いますか。
失礼します。
ごめん下さい。
うかがいます。
According to my book, the correct answer is 1- 失礼します.
Yet, in another part of my book it states this:
他のうちの人に、来たことを知らせます。
at the time when you arrive at ...
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いろいろお世話になりました。->いいえ、こちらこそ。 or またいらっしゃってください。
いろいろお世話になりました。
hello, in my book I found the 2 following replies to the above statement, which one is correct?
Are they both correct?
In what circumstances should each of these replies be replied to ...
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(先生に)お礼を申し上げます。
(先生に)お礼を申し上げます。
Hello can someone tell me how this phrase is to be used?
Do I say it to the teacher or is this a phrase to use with a 3rd person talking about a teacher?
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今晩はお宅にいらっしゃるでしょう。今晩はお宅においでになりますか。
1 - 今晩はお宅にいらっしゃるでしょう。
2- 今晩はお宅においでになりますか。
I know the above are described as 尊敬語 (目上の人の行為を言う) Respectful Language for いる. Used to refer to the actions of supervisors.
The question I have is, who says ...
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研究会の会長でいらっしゃいます。 and お元気でいらっしゃるそうです
研究会の会長でいらっしゃいます。
お元気でいらっしゃるそうです。
I know the above is described as 尊敬語 (目上の人の行為を言う) Respectful Language for だ. Used to refer to the actions of supervisors.
Can someone explain when or in what ...
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推薦書を書いて下さいました。vs (先生に)ピアノを教えていただきました。
1 - 推薦書を書いて下さいました。
2 - (先生に)ピアノを教えていただきました。
I wanted to confirm 2 things.
First is number 1 尊敬語 and is number 2 謙譲語
Second is the reason why 2 is using 謙譲語 because the teacher is part of the speakers ...
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受付の人に質問したいことはあります - 尊敬語 (respectful) and 謙譲語 (humble)
受付の人に質問したいことはあります。
I want to ask a question to the person at the desk. How do you ask a question to the person at the desk in Japanese?
Answer: うかがいたいんですが。
I like to ask you something (I am talking ...
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係りの山田は、すぐに参ります。‐Yamada, the person in charge, is coming soon‐
係りの山田は、すぐに参ります。
Yamada, the person in charge, is coming soon.
I have a question, why is this sentence from my Japanese book stated in a humble way instead of an honorific way? The humble word for ...
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Do humble forms exist in Kansai-ben?
I know that Kansai-ben has a variety of strategies to express honorification. For instance, the honorific form of `use' in Kyōto-ben is 使いはる. My question is about whether 謙譲語 forms exist in Kansai ...
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Do friends continue to use chan/kun to refer to each other as adults or do they switch to using san?
Do friends continue to use chan/kun to refer to each other as adults or do they switch to using san?
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Should I use -Sensei (先生) to refer to a teacher if they aren't my teacher?
Does it make a difference whether they teach at my school, even if they don't teach my class?
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How should honorific suffixes be ideally translated to capture their full meaning, given unlimited space? [closed]
It’s well known that there are many, quite subtle, forms of honorific address in the Japanese language from those of the highest rank to the lowest, and even those of unknown rank. And of course ...
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Does 「拝見ありがとうございます」 ever make sense?
I have seen this used on a Japanese site by at least two native speakers, usually attached to the end of the post to mean "Thank you for reading". The phrasing simply doesn't make sense to ...
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Honorific on a number
I've been having a play with Duolingo and I came across this utterance:
果物をお一つどうぞ。
So far I've come across some pretty unnatural stuff and it's left me rather skeptical.
I've never seen an honorific ...
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Is くれてください tautological?
I was doing some reading on the different honorific forms in Japanese and came across ください being the humble form of くれる. Does this mean that -くれてください at the end of a request is tautological?
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Is the ''o'' in ''osara'' (plate) an honorific o 御 or just a normal o お?
I have learned that "plate" is both sara and osara.
The fact that the o can be attached implies to me that it is an honorific o 御.
My dictionary gives the honorific o as 御 but for osara it ...
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"となっております" - "It is our rule that" - Honorific Speech?
According to Tofugu 〜となっております means "it is a rule that"
I know that となる means to become with the nuance of finality and てある is for resulting actions "in preparation for something".
...
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Using honorifics when talking about others with friends (indirect speech)
I couldn't find the question already being asked, so please redirect me if it was already answered.
The honorific suffix －さん is always used when directly speaking to another person. It is also used ...
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When is 博士 (hakase) used as honorific?
According to wikipedia, 博士 (hakase) is used as honorific when addressing some academics:
Sensei (先生、せんせい) [...] is used to refer to or address teachers, doctors, politicians, lawyers. [...] The term ...
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i wanted to name myself a Japanese name,(first-last) but i wanted to know if it was okay to do so
Can someone please answer my question somehow? I would like to respect and honor the means of Japanese people/culture. I did not want to name myself a Japanese name without permission from the ...
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Is こられた (from 来られた from 来られる) here working as a passive helping?
I came across two paragraphs in which こられた is mentioned.
1st paragraph:
萩生田文部科学大臣は、ＮＨＫの取材に対し、「報道が事実だとすれば、これまで体調が悪い中でも業務を続けてこられたのに、ここにきて辞任されるのは非常に残念だ。まだお若いので、今後は体調に気をつけていただきながら後輩への指導をしっかりしてもらいたい」...
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Apparent honorific use of 参る
I'm puzzled by the appearance of 参る in this dictionary entry.
The example sentence is archaic:「こなたにてみぐしなど参る程に」
In the modern language, this becomes: こちらでお髪などおととのえになるころに。
Notice that the modern version ...
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Interaction between pitch accent and mi-prefixation
I'm interested in the ways in which words that can be prefixed with mi- might vary in accent. For instance, both mi-kokoro and mi-gokoro are attested (albeit rare and highly archaic), but mi-kokoro is ...
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Form of address for a medical doctor in Edo and Sengoku eras
I know that nowdays 先生 is used as the honorific for medical doctors (among others), but I'm curious what honorific was used in older periods, Edo and Sengoku specifically.
Also if this usage of 先生 is ...
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What instances would you use someone's full name?
I've run into this a couple times and was always curious. In what instances might you call someone by both their surname and given name? Ex. In a conversation, person B, refers to person A (named ...
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Why is there ご in 判断
I was wondering why there was ご in ご判断.
I saw this in a sentence in anime called Oregairu ep. 10.
それとお手伝いの件 城廻先輩の ご判断もありますし
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Why is Atom not given any honorifics in アストロボーイ・鉄腕アトム? Is it because he's a robot?
I'm very new to Japanese I'd like to apologize now for any glaring mistakes up front.
Revisiting Astro boy, I've noticed that Atom is very rarely called by any kind of honorific, just アトム. The only ...
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Are these 2 the same level of humble honorifics (謙譲語)? Which would a native choose?
I think that there are 2 difference ways to say I first lived in Hiroshima. using humble honorifics (謙譲語):
(1) 最初に、広島にお住み致しました。
(2) 最初に、広島に住まわせて頂きました。
Both are correct 謙譲語?
Is #2 more "powerful" ...
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いらっしゃいます and なさる difference [closed]
I know, that both are honorifics, but I thought that いらっしゃいます is more often used when expressing state-of-beeing, aka "Is Tanaka-sama here?" and なさる when expressing doing: "Can someone do it?".I can ...
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What does お do in ケーキはお好きですか? [duplicate]
ケーキはお好きですか
So I started learning Japanese and something caught my attention quite often.
In some sentences there is an お in front of a verb. What is it doing?
How does it affect the sentence. Can ...
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Usage of さん when talking about famous people
When referring to a famous person while talking to friends, I always just use their full name, but I always end up unsure if I should add さん.
Part of the reason for that is that when I was watching TV ...
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Pitch Accent for Honorifics
I have been studying pitch accent for a few months now, primarily from the NHK Accent Dictionary. My Japanese is not terribly strong, so it took me a while to muddle through the explanations and ...
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Which honorific is correct, oshumi or goshumi?
I want to ask a person about their hobbies. Go/O shumi ha nan desu ka? 趣味
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If my business card says 〇〇さん, does that mean I'm referring to myself with an honourific?
My company (a Japanese startup) issued me a set of business cards. The information on the card is almost entirely in English. Except for the company address, the only other bit in Japanese is「ムルさん」in ...
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られる honorific/polite versus passive origin
Is the られる used as a honorific (some sources use "polite", but I assume it's a honorific?) related to the passive form (perhaps it's alternative usage) or is it something that emerged separately? (...
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Is an honorific necessary when using someone’s name to say “you”?
Since people often just use someone’s name to say “you” do you always need an honorific?
Like could I just say 「ボブの犬が大好きな！」to say “I love your dog!” to Bob? Or would it need be ボブさん?
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Why does ゆっくり take the honorific prefix ご?
Is ゆっくり the only mimetic expression that accepts the honorific prefix ご?
And for that matter, why does it take the honorific prefix ご- which is usually meant for 漢語?
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Historical use of さん
In the song 宮さん宮さん (明治時代)
宮さん宮さん お馬の前に
ひらひらするのは 何じゃいな
As far as I can see it is referring to the emperor using さん、has its formality changed since that era? Or is it being ironic
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Is honorific speech ever used in the first person?
I'm just starting out learning Japanese, and I've read that when using honorific and humble forms and conjugations, you use humble forms to refer to yourself, and honorific forms to refer to others, ...
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Is the お used at the start of the sentence a honorific お?
Is the お used at the start of the following dialogue a honorific お?
[お得意の洗脳か]
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How to decide between ている and てます
ています is the polite form of ている. On the other hand, てます is the casual and colloquial form of ています. The plain form 「ている」is also used in casual situation. How to know if it is better to use ている or てます?
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Family questions
When I speak with my mother I must say "haha", when I talk about other people's mother, I must say "okaasan", but what about when I talk about my mother to other people?
There is nothing about that ...
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Honorific suffix 御 as in 甥御 and 姪御?
Just learned that the honorific equivalents of nephew and niece in Japanese are:
甥御 and 姪御, which raise the question:
How come 御 functions as a suffix instead of a prefix which is the case we usually ...
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Is there a kanji term for "-san" when used to address someone?
All other titles, used when addressing someone, have a kanji character. Was/Is there a kanji term for -san?
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Use of でいらっしゃる and でござる
I found a chart listing the plain, polite, honorific, and humble forms of verbs. The chart listed だ →です→でいらっしゃる→でござる with the note “animate only.” I know that だ and です can be used for inanimate ...
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Adding honorific prefix in a compound construction? (E.g. 買ってくれになる)
I'm currently learning how to use くれる/あげる correctly, and I want to practice using 敬語 in my sentence. However, I am not sure where I should put the pre-verb honorific prefix お used in おVERB+になります as I ...
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San, sama and other honorifics in translated literature
I have always been told that centuries of Japanese literature had been successfully translated without keeping "san" or "chan" suffixes. Is it an unbreakable rule or are there famous examples of such ...
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