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Japanese Politeness Levels

While many Western languages have polite usage, such as polite personal pronouns (Sie in German, vous in French, usted in Spanish, etc) taking plural verb forms even when used in the singular, Asian languages - and Japanese in particular - employ a more complex grammatical system to express formality and politeness.

Basically, the following levels of politeness can be distinguished in colloquial Japanese:

kudaketa (くだけた, the plain form, "chatty" or "impolite")
keigo (敬語 "honorific language", advanced polite form).
- teineigo (丁寧語, "polite language")
- kenjōgo (謙譲語, humble language)
- sonkeigo (尊敬語, respectful language)

In general, honorifics are used to establish social disparities and differences in rank and seniority, in position or experience. The party in lower position is expected to use a polite form of speech when addressing a senior party, while the latter may use a more plain form.

The plain or casual form (kudaketa) is used by children until their teens, at which point they are supposed to start speaking in a more adult, or polite, manner. The plain form is recognized by the shorter, so-called dictionary (辞書形 jishokei) form of verbs, and the da form of the copula. Casual speech is also used between family members, close friends, adults of equal rank and in impersonal written documents (newspapers, magazines, articles, reports, etc).

Keigo, the advanced form of polite language, consists of three categories of politeness: teineigo, sonkeigo and kenjōgo. The two latter are so-called "referent honorifics", used to talk about someone else, while and teneigo is an "addressee honorific", used to talk to someone.

Teineigo (丁寧語)

Teineigo, or the normal polite form, is used by adults who don't know each other well or who are strangers to each other. It is used in corporate life in order to communicate with an immediate superior, while more honorific language might be expected when addressing higher-ranking superior. Polite language is also used with foreigners, who are strangers per se. It is taught to children at school, so they are not expected to use it in their pre-teen days. In the tenei-level, verbs end with the helping verb -masu, and the copula desu as well as prefixes such as "o" and "go" towards neutral objects, are used.

Sonkeigo (尊敬語)

Sonkeigo, respectful or exalted language, is never used by interlocutors to talk about themselves, but always when referring to others in power, in particular superiors or customers and their group, indicating that the speaker is acting in a professional context. The polite suffixes "-san" and "-sama" ("Mr", "Mrs", "Ms") are examples of such honorifics, and as such always applied to others, never to oneself. Honorifics are also applied to verb forms, using either alternative verbs or a prefix and polite suffixes, and to nouns, being substituted by more polite expressions. 人 (hito, "person") turns into the polite 方 (kata). Please see the "Honorifics" table below. It should be noted that honorifics should not be applied to someone from the own group (e.g. company) when talking to someone from another group (e.g. another company).

Kenjōgo (謙譲語)

Kenjōgo, on the other hand, is used when referring to oneself or someone from the own group towards people from another group, in order to humble the own actions vis-à-vis the actions of another person, in particular a customer. In humble language, common verbs are substituted with other verb forms, too, but are often altered with prefixes. As mentioned above, name suffixes are omitted when talking about oneself or someone from the own group. As in respectful language, sometimes nouns are substituted. 人 (see above) becomes 者 (mono).

Most nouns in the Japanese language may be made honorific by the addition of o- (お) or go- (ご); as a prefix. o- is generally used for words of native Japanese origin, whereas go- is affixed to words of Chinese derivation. In some cases, the prefix has become a fixed part of the word and is included even in non-honorific speech, such as gohan, or rice. Such a construction usually indicates deference to either the item's owner or to the object itself. For example, the word tomodachi ("friend"), would become o-tomodachi when referring to the friend of someone of higher status. On the other hand, a female speaker may sometimes refer to mizu (water) as "o-mizu" just to show her cultural refinement, compared to more blunt male speech patterns.

It is a common lament and a popular topic in the Japanese media that the usage of polite forms has lately been declining, particularly among the young, who employ politeness to indicate a lack of familiarity and distance. That is, they use polite forms for new acquaintances, but as a relationship becomes more intimate, they speak more frankly. This often occurs regardless of age, social class, or gender.

As a result of that decline, many Japanese companies, fast-food restaurants and convenience store chains released manuals instructing their young employees, part-time workers more often than not, on how to address their customers politely. This form of keigo is referred to as マニュアル敬語 (manyuaru keigo, "manual keigo") or バイト敬語 (baito keigo, "part-timer keigo"), and has been criticised as it often disseminates incorrect and distorted patterns of honorifics.

Teichōgo (丁重語) and bikago (美化語)

Some linguists point out two more categories of keigo: teichōgo, "courteous language", and possibly just a variation of kenjōgo, used as humble language in which an action or object is not directed toward the listener or a third party, and bikago, "word beautification", as a variation of teneigo using a more refined language through prefixing of "o-" or "go-" to words, and use of appropriate vocabulary.

Respectful verbs

Some irregular respectful forms

meaning	plain	respectful (sonkeigo)	humble (kenjōgo)	polite (teineigo)
see / look / watch	見る; miru	ご覧になる go-ran ni naru	拝見する haiken suru	見ます　mimasu
meet	会う au	regular (ex.お会いになる o-ai ni naru)	お目にかかる o-me ni kakaru	会います　aimasu
be¹	ある aru			ござる gozaru
be¹	いる iru	いらっしゃる irassharu おいでになる o-ide ni naru	おる oru	おる oru
come / go¹	来る kuru (come) 行く iku (go)	いらっしゃる irassharu おいでになる o-ide ni naru	伺う ukagau 参る mairu	参る mairu
know	知る shiru	ご存じ go-zonji	存じあげる zonji ageru	存じている zonji te iru
eat / drink	食べる taberu (eat) 飲む nomu (drink)	召しあがる meshi-agaru	頂く itadaku	頂く itadaku
receive	もらう morau		頂く itadaku² 頂戴する chōdai-suru²	もらいます　moraimasu
give (who receives is respected)	やる yaru (considered rude today, except in Kansai dialect) あげる ageru (once the humble form)		差しあげる sashiageru	あげます　agemasu
give (who gives is respected)	くれる kureru	くださる kudasaru		くれます　kuremasu
do	する suru	なさる nasaru	致す itasu	します　shimasu
say	言う iu	おっしゃる ossharu	申し上げる mōshi-ageru 申す mōsu	言います　iimasu
put on	着る kiru	お召しになる omeshi ni naru		着ます　kimasu
sleep	寝る neru	お休みになる o-yasumi ni naru		休みます yasumimasu
die	死ぬ shinu	お亡くなりになる o-nakunari ni naru		亡くなる nakunaru

Honorifics

Affix	Romaji	Translation
お-	o-	Honorific title used on words of typically Japanese origin or other titles
ご-	go-	Honorific title used on words of typically foreign origin
-さん	-san	Mr./Mrs./Ms./Miss
-ちゃん	-chan	Used to denote familiarity or a kind of cuteness
-君 (-くん)	-kun	Used to denote someone of lower rank or a small level of impoliteness
-後輩 (-こうはい)	-kohai	Used to denote someone of a lower grade than the speaker ('underclassman')*
-先輩 (-せんぱい)	-senpai	Used to denote someone of a higher grade than the speaker ('upperclassman')
-様 (-さま)	-sama	Used to denote someone of royalty or godhood

* -こうはい (kohai) is rarely used as an affix. Most people in a senpai position would use -くん (kun) instead.

Note that -くん (kun) is a somehow (not strictly, just more often) preferred affix speaking to or between boys (although boyfriends are sometimes addressed with -ちゃん). Girls tend to use -ちゃん (chan) in a similar manner, although -くん (kun) is also used sometimes. Unlike -さん (san) which is commonly used with a family name, these two affixes can also be used with given names (moreover, the name used may be shortened in front of these two affixes).

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