**(For furigana, and for reading this post in general (kanji are nigh unreadable while being “linked”), I recommend using the old reddit style as it seems to be the only way the furigana works at least for me, sorry)**
Perhaps I’m just foolish, but somehow I haven’t come across all this information in my 3 and a bit years learning Japanese. I hope I can teach some of you this as well, even if you know most of it you might learn something new. This is a summary of [三本塾](#fg “さんぼんじゅく”)’s video on Youtube. I’m unsure if I’m allowed to link it but you can find it on his channel if you’d like to watch it instead of reading this.
First of all, [尊敬語](#fg “そんけいご”) and [謙譲語](#fg “けんじょうご”) are the two classifications of [敬語](#fg “けいご”), which is humble language you would use in formal situations (when you are trying to be polite). If you’re new and unsure of when to use this I wouldn’t use it at all, because most people you talk to online and such you can just use a more conversational manner of speech and it will be fine. Rather, you might use this when talking to a customer, or a superior at your company.
It is worth noting before reading the next 2 sections about how to use each type, that there are a myriad of exception verbs (which was the interesting part to me) that I will go over in the section after this.
[尊敬語](#fg “そんけいご”) is used when referring to an action made by someone of a higher status than you. You do not use it when you are the one performing the verb.
It’s form for non-する verbs is as follows:
> お + (ます stem) + になる
So, an example sentence could be:
> [先生](#fg “せんせい”)が[本](#fg “ほん”)をお[書](#fg “か”)きになりました。
Being the [尊敬語](#fg “そんけいご”) version of the sentence:
> [先生](#fg “せんせい”)が[本](#fg “ほん”)をお[書](#fg “か”)きました。
With both of these sentences meaning “The teacher wrote a book”. Then it’s form for する verbs is as follows:
> ご + (Noun) + になる
So an example sentence could be:
> [先生](#fg “せんせい”)がご[説明](#fg “せつめい”)になりました。
Meaning “The teacher explained (it)”.
It is important for beginners to note that this になる isn’t a verb, it is the particle に and the verb なる, which is usually explained to be the verb “to become”, but here it is serving as the verb “to do”.
Then, [謙譲語](#fg “けんじょうご”) is used when you are referring to an action that you have made, and you want to do so humbly. You cannot use it to refer to an action done by anyone but yourself. I will still give as longwinded of an explanation as previously, but just know it is basically the same as before for most verbs except you are using する instead of になる.
It’s form for non-する verbs is:
> お + (ます stem) + する
So an example sentence could be:
> [私](#fg “わたし”)が[手紙](#fg “てがみ”)をお[読](#fg “よ”)みします。
Meaning “I read/will read the letter”.
Then for する verbs much the same as before:
> ご + (Noun) + する
So an example sentence could be:
> [私](#fg “わたし”)がご[紹介](#fg “しょうかい”)します。
Meaning “I will introduce myself”.
That is the basics, not too much to remember and should come in handy occasionally. Where I learnt the most here though especially if you’re not a beginner (again, maybe I’m just ignorant) is all of the exception verbs. I will list them out, and then their [尊敬語](#fg “そんけいご”) and [謙譲語](#fg “けんじょうご”) versions. If there isn’t a form of one for a verb I will write N/A.
**する**
> 尊敬語: なさる / なさいます
> 謙譲語: N/A
Example:
> [先生](#fg “せんせい”)が[歴史](#fg “れきし”)の[研究](#fg “けんきゅう”)をなさっています。
> “The teacher is researching history.”
**いる**
> 尊敬語: いらっしゃる / いらっしゃいます
> 謙譲語: N/A
**行く と 来る**
> 尊敬語: いらっしゃる / いらっしゃいます
> 謙譲語: [伺](#fg “うかが”)う / [伺](#fg “うかが”)います
**言う**
> 尊敬語: [仰](#fg “おっしゃ”)る / [仰](#fg “おっしゃ”)います
> 謙譲語: [申](#fg “もう”)し[上](#fg “あ”)げる / [申](#fg “もう”)し[上](#fg “あ”)げます
**聞く**
This verb follows the normal forms mentioned above, but sometimes is an exception for [謙譲語](#fg “けんじょうご”).
> 謙譲語: [伺](#fg “うかが”)う / [伺](#fg “うかが”)います。
**会う**
Same situation as previous.
> 謙譲語: お[目](#fg “め”)に[掛](#fg “か”)かる / お[目](#fg “め”)に[掛](#fg “か”)かります
**見る**
> 尊敬語: ご[覧](#fg “らん”)になる / ご[覧](#fg “らん”)になります
> 謙譲語: [拝見](#fg “はいけん”)する / [拝見](#fg “はいけん”)します
**食べる と 飲む**
> 尊敬語: [召](#fg “め”)し[上](#fg “あ”)がる / [召](#fg “め”)し[上](#fg “あ”)ります
> 謙譲語: いただく / いただきます
**くれる**
> 尊敬語: くださる / くださいます
> 謙譲語: N/A
**もらう**
> 尊敬語: N/A
> 謙譲語: いただく / いただきます
**あげる**
> 尊敬語: N/A
> 謙譲語: [差](#fg “さ”)し[上](#fg “あ”)げる / [差](#fg “さ”)し[上](#fg “あ”)げます
There are actually a few more that あっきー (the host) went over (to list them, 着る、寝る、死ぬ、知る・知っている、住む・住んでいる). This post has already taken over an hour to write though and I should really be getting to bed. I hope I was able to teach at least a couple of people something new. There may be formatting issues or slight errors in this post so please let me know and I can correct them. Thanks for reading!