Minna No Nihongo Lesson 49 Grammar

Minna No Nihongo Lesson 49 Grammar

1. 敬語 (honorific expressions)

You learnけいご in Lesson 49 and 50, けいごare expressions used to show the speaker’s respect for the listener or the person being referred to. The speaker is expected to show respect depending on his/her relationship with the listener or the person being referred to. There are the following three factors that should be considered in deciding the use of けいご: (1) When the speaker is junior or lower in social status, he/she uses けいごto show respect to the person senior or higher in social status. (2) When the speaker does not have a close acquaintanceship with the listener, as is typical when the speaker first meets the listener, he/she uses けいごto show respect to the listener. (3) The うち – そとrelationship should be also be taken into consideration with regard to the use of けいご. The speaker’s group such as his/her family and company, etc., are considered as うち, and other groups are considered as そと. When the speaker talks about うちのひと (an insider) toそとのひと (an outsider), the insider is treated like the speaker himself/herself. Therefore, even if the insider is senior or higher in status, the speaker cannot use けいごin the way that shows respect to the insider.

2. Types of 敬語

けいごare classified into three types: そんけいご (respectful expressions), けんじょうご(humble expressions) and ていねいご (polite expressions). Lesson 49 deals with そんけいご.

3. 尊敬語 (respectful expressions)

そんけいごare expressions used to describe the listener or the person referred to, as well as things connected with him/her and his/her actions.

1) Verbs

(1) Respectful verbs

The same verbs used in the passive are used as respectful verb. They are Group II verbs.

中村さんは７時に来られます。

Mr. Nakamura is coming at seven.

お酒をやめられたんですか。

Have you given up drinking?

(2) おVます-form になります

This pattern is considered politer than the respectful verbs mentioned above. Verbs whose ます-form consist of one mora (みます, ねます, etc.) and Group III verbs cannot be used in this pattern. As for the verbs which have special equivalent (see (3) below), note that the special equivalents rather than this pattern are used.

社長はもうお帰りになりました。

The president has already left for home.

(3) Special respectful words

Some verbs have special respectful equivalents. They are considered to show the same level of respect as (2) above.

ワット先生は研究室にいらっしゃいます。

Professor Watt is in the office.

どうぞ召し上がってください。

Please help yourselves.

[Note] いらっしゃいます, なさいます, くださいますand おっしゃいますare Group I verbs, but except for ます-form, they change their form in the ら-row when they conjugate.

ワット先生はテニスをなさいますか。

いいえ、なさらないと思います。

Does professor Watt play tennis?

No, I don’t think so.

(4) おVます-form ください

This is the respectful way of instructing or inviting someone to do something.

あちらからお入りください。

Please enter from over there.

[Note] The special words you learned in (3) above cannot be used in this pattern. The exceptions are めしあがりますand ごらんになります, which are changed to おめしあがりください (Please help yourself) and ごらんください (Please have a look at it) respectively.

2) Nouns, adjectives and adverbs

In addition to verbs, some nouns, adjectives and adverbs can be turned intoそんけいご by attaching おorご to the front of the word. The choice betweenお andご depends on the word. Basically お is attached to words of Japanese origin, whileご is attached to words of Chinese origin.

Examples of words to which おis attached:

(N)       お国、お名前、お仕事

(な-adj) お元気、お上手、お暇

(い-adj) お忙しい、お若い

Examples of words to whichご is attached:

(N)       ご家族、ご意見、ご旅行

(な-adj) ご熱心、ご親切

(adverb) ご自由に

4. 敬語 and style of sentence

A sentence can end with a plain form of けいご , which makes the sentence a plain style sentence. This kind of sentence appears on occasions such as when the speaker is talking with a close friend about a person to whom the speaker wishes to show respect.

部長は何時にいらっしゃる。

What time will the department manager come?

5. Uniform level of 敬語 in a sentence

In honorific expressions, replacing some of the words in a sentence with けいごdoes not suffice. It is necessary to keep a uniform level of けいごthroughout the entire sentence.

部長の奥様もごいっしょにゴルフに行かれます。(*)

The department manager’s wife will go golfing together with him.

In (*), おくさまand ごいっしょにare used instead ofおくさん and いっしょにin order to be consistent with the respectful verb いかれます.

6. ～まして

You change Vて-form to Vます-form ましてwhen you want to be very polite. In a sentence withけいご, ～ましてis often used for consistency.

ハンスがゆうべ熱を出しまして、けさもまだ下がらないんです。

Hans became feverish last night and still has a fever this morning.

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