お・ご (polite prefixes)

How it works

Politeness in Japanese does not live only in the verb ending. Nouns and adjectives take a prefix, お or ご, that shows respect for the listener or for the person the thing belongs to. Both are the same kanji 御, and the choice depends on the word's origin:

• お goes on native Japanese words (和語, usually read with 訓読み): お名前, お仕事, お住まい, お金, お休み, お忙しい.
• ご goes on Sino-Japanese words (漢語, 音読み compounds): ご家族, ご住所, ご連絡, ご意見, ご結婚, ご心配, ご注文.

A handful of very common 漢語 words take お anyway, and you simply learn them: お電話, お食事, お料理, お時間, お天気, お元気, お茶, お勉強, お返事. ご飯 ‘cooked rice, meal’ is ご on a single kanji.

The prefix does three jobs:

1. Respect for the other person (尊敬語): お名前は？ ‘your name?’, ご家族はお元気ですか ‘is your family well?’. The prefix replaces あなたの, which polite Japanese avoids.
2. Humility (謙譲語) when your own action goes toward the other person: ご連絡します ‘I will contact you’, ご説明します ‘let me explain’, お送りします ‘I'll send it to you’.
3. Refinement (美化語): words that simply sound nicer with お in polite speech, whoever they belong to: お茶, お菓子, お風呂, お酒, お土産, お手洗い, お箸.

Some words have fused with the prefix and are never said without it: おにぎり, おやつ, おかず, おはよう, ごちそう, ごめん. Katakana loanwords normally take no prefix (コーヒー, not おコーヒー). The prefix also opens the formal request pattern お + verb stem + ください: お待ちください, お入りください, ご注意ください.

Examples

• お名前は何ですか。（おなまえ は なん です か）— What is your name?
• ご家族はお元気ですか。（ごかぞく は おげんき です か）— Is your family well?
• お仕事は何ですか。（おしごと は なん です か）— What do you do for a living?
• 明日、ご連絡します。（あした ごれんらく します）— I will contact you tomorrow.
• お茶をどうぞ。（おちゃ を どうぞ）— Please have some tea.
• ご住所とお電話番号を書いてください。（ごじゅうしょ と おでんわばんごう を かいて ください）— Please write your address and phone number.

Compare with

です・ます

です・ます make the whole sentence polite toward the listener; お・ご make one word polite toward its owner. They normally appear together: お名前を教えてください. Dropping お while keeping ます (名前を教えてください) is still polite but noticeably flatter.

あなたの

Japanese avoids あなた with anyone above you or unknown to you. ‘Your name’, ‘your work’, ‘your family’ are simply お名前, お仕事, ご家族; あなたのお名前 is redundant and stiff.

お + verb stem + ください

The prefix also builds a more formal request than ～てください: お待ちください ‘please wait’, お入りください ‘please come in’, ご覧ください ‘please have a look’. Shop staff and announcements use it constantly; between friends 待ってください is enough.

Traps for Spanish, English and French speakers

• Spanish ‘su nombre’ and French ‘votre nom’ put politeness on the possessive, so learners write あなたのお名前は？ or あなたの名前は？. あなた addressed to a stranger or a superior is blunt, and the prefix alone already means ‘your’: お名前は？, お仕事は？, ご家族は？.
• Having learned お・ご as ‘polite’, learners put it on their own things: 私のお名前は田中です, 私のご家族は四人です. Respectful お・ご on your own name, family or work raises you above the listener, so say 私の名前, 家族, 仕事 (only fused words like お茶, ご飯, お金 stay).
• English, Spanish and French express politeness with pronouns and verb forms, never by the origin of a noun, so learners guess the prefix and produce ご名前, お家族 or お連絡. お goes on native words (お名前, お仕事), ご on Sino-Japanese ones (ご家族, ご連絡, ご住所), with a short list of exceptions to memorise: お電話, お食事, お料理, お時間.
• English speakers who hear ‘honorific prefix’ strip it off to sound casual and say 茶を飲む or 飯を食べる. お茶 and ご飯 are the plain, neutral words; bare 飯（めし） is rough, masculine casual speech and bare 茶 is either bookish or brusque.