Let’s look at Honorific Japanese:
There are actually several types of Honorific Japanese. Today, we will take a look at words used to exalt the person being spoken to.
First, let’s look at the words you will say to your boss or to anyone you respect. (To exalt–said to someone on higher than you)
| Regular | Honorific | Examples & Explanation: |
| 見る (miru) to see | ご覧になる (go ran ni naru) | You will hear this a lot in stores and on TV. It is used to politely get someone to look at something.
|
| 行く (iku) to go 来る (kuru) to come いる (iru) to be |
いらっしゃる (irassharu) | You can’t escape this one. Every supermarket, mall or store has someone yelling a form of this at you! Thanks for coming!
Or when speaking to a superior, you may ask:
|
| 食べる (taberu) to eat 飲む (nomu) to drink |
召し上がる (meshiagaru) | The McDonald’s bag has this scribbled on it. It was a very polite french fry!
|
| 言う (iu) to say | おっしゃる (ossharu) |
|
You will notice that in addition to changing the form, the new words are almost always much longer.
This was just a snippet. If your mouth is watering for more, here is the complete lowdown on keigo
