お・
お・ご～ください respectfully asks or encourages the listener to do something. It is especially common in customer service, formal invitations, announcements, instructions, and public signs.
Whose action is respected?
The person being asked to act is the listener or the group being addressed. The construction raises that person's action respectfully; it is not normally used to describe the speaker's own action.
The two main patterns
The prefix depends largely on the type of word, but actual usage is also conventional. Learn common combinations as complete phrases.
Requests that also sound like invitations
In service and formal hospitality, this construction often feels less like an order and more like a courteous invitation. Context and words such as どうぞ help create that welcoming tone.
どうぞ会場へお入りください。
Please come into the venue.
AnalyzeCompared with the general polite request
てください is the broad, ordinary way to make a polite request. お・ご～ください adds respect toward the person performing the action and is especially suited to formal service, announcements, and deferential invitations.
ドアを閉めてください。
Please close the door.
AnalyzeThis is a normal polite request using the general pattern, not the honorific construction taught on this page.
More examples
こちらにお名前をお書きください。
Please write your name here.
Analyze番号をお確かめの上、順番にお入りください。
Please check your number and enter in order.
Analyze送信する前に、内容をご確認ください。
Please check the contents before sending.
Analyze受付で身分証明書をご提示ください。
Please present identification at reception.
Analyze係員の指示に従ってご移動ください。
Please move as directed by the staff.
Analyze詳しくは、受付で配布している資料をご参照ください。
For details, please refer to the materials available at reception.
Analyze