Keigo — Japan's System of Honorific Speech
Why the same sentence changes shape depending on who you're talking to — the three branches of keigo, and the vocabulary that signals respect.
One of the first things that surprises Japanese learners is that a single idea — “to eat,” say — can be said several completely different ways depending on who's eating and who's being addressed. This layered politeness system is called 敬語 (keigo), and mastering even its basics unlocks a huge amount of workplace and service-industry Japanese.
The three branches of keigo
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 尊敬語 | そんけいご sonkeigo | respectful language, raising up the person you're talking about (never used for yourself) |
| 謙譲語 | けんじょうご kenjougo | humble language, lowering your own action to indirectly raise the listener |
| 丁寧語 | ていねいご teineigo | polite language, the baseline politeness of です/ます |
| 敬語 | けいご keigo | honorific language in general |
One verb, three faces
Take 食べる (to eat). In sonkeigo, describing a respected person's action, it becomes 召し上がる (meshiagaru). In kenjougo, describing your own action toward a superior, it becomes いただく (itadaku) — the very same word used to say “thanks for the food” before a meal. In teineigo, it's simply 食べます. Recognizing these irregular forms in the wild is often harder than using them yourself.
Common irregular pairs
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| いらっしゃる | いらっしゃる irassharu | to be/go/come — sonkeigo of いる/行く/来る |
| おっしゃる | おっしゃる ossharu | to say — sonkeigo of 言う |
| 伺う | うかがう ukagau | to visit/ask/hear — kenjougo of 訪ねる/尋ねる/聞く |
| 参る | まいる mairu | to go/come — kenjougo of 行く/来る |
Why service workers sound so formal
Store staff, hotel receptionists, and train announcements lean heavily on sonkeigo and kenjougo, which is why “textbook simple” Japanese can suddenly feel unrecognizable at a convenience store register. The good news: as a customer, you're rarely expected to reply in kind — a polite teineigo です/ます is completely acceptable back. For the vocabulary of everyday transactions, see Japan's convenience store culture.
🔊 Tap any word in the vocabulary tables to hear it spoken.