お・
お待たせしました, お持ちします, ご案内します: this is how staff say what they do for you. It is also how you say what you do for a teacher, a boss or a customer. You already use one: お願いします.
I'll carry this luggage for you.
I'll show you to the meeting room.
Sorry to have kept you waiting.
How to form it
お + Verb ます-stem + する ご + する-noun + する
持ちます → お持ちします, 案内する → ご案内します. A few する-nouns take お: お電話します. 行く, 来る, いる, 言う, する, 見る and 食べる・飲む have humble verbs of their own instead.
Who is doing it?
Respectful forms raise what the other person does. Humble forms lower what you, or your side, do. You never raise yourself, and to an outsider you never raise your own family or company.
お～する is humble. You do it, or someone on your side does, and the other person is on the receiving end. The お honors them, not you.
I'll carry your bags.
You carry them, for the other person. Humble.
Will you carry your bags yourself?
They carry them. Respectful: お～になる.
What staff say to you
We'll deliver your order tomorrow morning.
The person in charge will contact you later.
A colleague is your side too.
What you say to someone above you
This is the natural way to offer help to a teacher or a boss, often with ましょうか.
Professor, shall I carry that for you?
What people say.
Sounds odd: 先生、
Professor, shall I carry that for you?
Fine to a friend. To a teacher it sounds as if you are handing down a favor.
May I borrow an umbrella?
There is someone on the receiving end
You carry their bag, call them, show them the way, borrow from them. What you do by yourself stays an everyday verb, however polite the conversation.
Not said: 私は
(I get up at six every morning.)
六時に起きます.
Not for what the other person does
Not said: お客様が
(A customer is waiting in the lobby.)
The waiting is the customer's: お待ちです, or お待ちになっています.
Not said: こちらで
(Please wait here.)
A request is the other person's action too: お待ちください.
Verbs with a humble verb of their own
| Everyday | Humble |
|---|---|
| 行く・来る | 参る, 伺う |
| いる | おる |
| 言う | 申す |
| する | いたす |
| 食べる・飲む | いただく |
| 見る | 拝見する |
Not said: 明日、
(I'll come to your office tomorrow, Professor.)
伺います.
いたす is why you also hear お待たせいたしました and お願いいたします: お～いたします is お～します, one step humbler.
Close neighbours
The verbs with a humble verb of their own.
I'll come and see you tomorrow afternoon.
させていただくN3
Heard all the time in service talk: you do it, with the other person's leave.
We are closed today.
Check yourself
1You offer to help your teacher. Which one fits?
先生、
Choose an answer to see why.
2Which sentence is right?
Choose an answer to see why.
More detail
お願いします, お邪魔します
Both are made this way: 願う is to ask a favor, 邪魔する to be in the way. You say お邪魔します as you step into someone's home.
More sentences
I'll show the teacher the way.
I'll see the customer to the exit.
I'll answer your question, Professor.
I reported the results of the survey to the department manager.
I will deliver the documents.
The person in charge will contact the customer later.