謙譲語 – How to be Courteous and Humble in Japanese
Japanese has 3 main styles of polite language; Humble, general polite language, and respectful language. Humble language is known as 謙譲語. If you learn Japanese you will soon find out how the way you speak can change quite a bit depending on who you are talking to.
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When do you use 謙譲語
Just like Respectful language, you will use 謙譲語 when you are talking to someone who is superior or of higher status. That could be a teacher, an older person, customers, a boss, and so on.
https://japaneseuniverse.com/2024/02/18/pac-man-in-japaneseconcepts-behind-development-to-global-icon/How is Humble different from Respectful?
Being humble is like being respectful but in reverse. Respectful language in Japanese works by elevating someone above yourself. However, Humble language works by lowering yourself in comparison to someone else and in doing so elevates the other person.
How do I use 謙譲語
Anytime you talk about yourself or people related to you, you would use 謙譲語. More specifically, if you have a sentence where you are the subject you would use 謙譲語. This is accomplished by using special humble words or word forms.
How to use Humble Language
There are two conditions that must be met to use humble language.
① You, a family member or someone with some connection to you is the subject of a sentence
② Your superior or there family member, someone connected to them somehow is being talked about
謙譲語 I Talking about Someone
Ok, let’s say you are talking about your teacher.
僕は先生のところへ伺います
I am going (to see) my teacher
先生からプレゼントをいただきました
I got a gift from the teacher
In the first sentence above, you are talking about yourself and the teacher is the destination. Here, 伺う is a humble verb meaning come or go.
The second sentence uses the verb いただく which is the humble way to say receive. In this situation the teacher is doing the action of giving but the verb’s subject is the person that is actually receiving the gift.
You could say the same thing with the Honorific verb 下さる where the teacher is the subject.
先生がプレゼントを下さいました
The teacher gave me a gift
