お / ご Prefixes: Politeness Prefixes in Japanese

One of the earliest elements to appear, yet one of the least understood in Japanese, is that tiny お or ご at the start of words. Learners usually learn that it's "polite," and then either put it everywhere or nowhere. Yet there is a system to it.

These prefixes are tools of 美化語 (bikago) and, in part, of keigo: they either simply polish your speech, or specifically elevate something belonging to the other party.

Because お／ご is the layer that's immediately audible. To a Japanese ear, the difference between お名前 and 名前 is just as noticeable as the difference in Hungarian between "what's your name?" (informal) and "what is your name, sir?" (formal).

Moreover, these prefixes are often mandatory: certain words today practically don't exist without them in polite speech (お金, お茶, ご飯).

A keigo a leggyakoribb pont, ahol az önálló tanulás megreked, mert itt a visszajelzés nélkülözhetetlen. Ha munkahelyi helyzetekre készülsz, a vállalati japán nyelvórákon valós szituációkban — telefonos ügyintézés, e-mail, tárgyalás — gyakoroljuk az udvariassági szinteket.

• お + word of Japanese origin (和語), with kun-reading: お名前, お金, お店, お考え, お忙しい.
• ご + word of Chinese origin (漢語), with on-reading: ご住所, ご連絡, ご家族, ご説明, ご利用.

This rule works in roughly 85% of cases. The remaining 15% are the exceptions — and unfortunately, those are exactly the most common words.

• お電話 — kango, yet お.
• お食事 — kango, yet お.
• お茶, お酒, お料理 — of kango origin, fixed with お.
• お時間, お約束, お返事 (though ご返事 also exists).
• ご飯 — kango, with ご, but its meaning is everyday food.
• お誕生日, お仕事, お名刺 — everyday politeness fixtures.

The お返事／ご返事 pair is a good example of how sometimes both forms are alive, just one is more common. In modern business Japanese, お返事 dominates.

Three different functions are worth distinguishing.

• 1. Respect (sonkeigo): for the OTHER person's thing — お名前, ご住所, ご意見.
• 2. Humility (kenjougo): for YOUR OWN action toward the other person — お電話いたします, ご説明いたします.
• 3. Beautification (bikago): general polishing, directed at no one in particular — お茶, お金, お天気.

This explains the apparent contradiction that お can sometimes even apply to you: in お手紙を差し上げます you're not elevating yourself, but the letter that's going to the other person.

• Before foreign-origin words written in katakana: ×おコーヒー, ×おビール (though お-ビール is sometimes heard, it's not standard).
• Natural phenomena, neutral objects: ×お山, ×お車 (though お車 is correct for a client's car!).
• Before words with negative meaning: ×お失敗.
• For your own things not connected to the other person: ×私のお意見.
• Excessive stacking: おビールのお値段 — sounds mannered.

Women and those in the service industry generally use more bikago than men do — this is also connected to gendered speech styles.

• Elevating your own things: 私のお名前は… — correctly 私の名前は…
• Adding お before katakana words: メール or ご連絡 instead of おメール.
• Using ご with a purely Japanese word: ×ご名前.
• Stacking お before every noun within a single sentence.
• Dropping the mandatory forms where they're required: お名前をお願いします instead of 名前をお願いします.
• Ignoring the お車／車 distinction with a client.

• "May I have your name?" — お名前を頂戴できますでしょうか。
• "Could you give me your address?" — ご住所をお教えいただけますか。
• "I'll call you." — 後ほどお電話いたします。
• "Please share your opinion." — ご意見をお聞かせください。
• "Your car is parked at the entrance." — お車は正面に停めてございます。
• "Thank you for your trouble." — お手数をおかけしました。

The fastest way to learn this is not to memorize rules but expressions. お／ご mostly gets fixed as a collocation anyway.

Speech-focused, personalized Japanese lessons online and in Budapest.