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3.2 Honorific Prefixes お/ご, Counters, and Suffixes

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BJT Business Japanese Proficiency Test BJTビジネス日本語能力テスト

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1 Introduction & Exam Overview

1.1 About the BJT Business Japanese Proficiency Test 1.2 Test Structure, Scoring, and Levels (J5–J1+) 1.3 How to Use This Study Guide

2 Keigo Foundation: The Honorific System

2.1 The Three Keigo Categories: Sonkeigo, Kenjougo, Teineigo 2.2 Sonkeigo (Respectful Language) — Forms and Use 2.3 Kenjougo (Humble Language) — Forms and Use 2.4 Teineigo (Polite Language) and Business Set Phrases

3 Business Vocabulary and Grammar

3.1 Core Business Vocabulary: 役職, 部署, 会社生活 3.2 Honorific Prefixes お/ご, Counters, and Suffixes 3.3 Key Grammar Patterns for Business (～てまで, ～による, ～かねる, ～次第, ～際) 3.4 Fixed Business Expressions and Email Formulae (頭語, 結語, クッション言葉)

4 Part 1: Listening Comprehension (聴解)

4.1 場面把握問題: Photo Scene Comprehension 4.2 発言聴解問題: Keigo Greetings and Replies 4.3 総合聴解問題: Workplace Dialogues and Meetings 4.4 Listening for Numbers, Dates, and Decisions — Traps and Strategies

5 Part 2: Listening & Reading Comprehension (聴読解)

5.1 状況把握問題: Situation Comprehension (Photo + Audio) 5.2 資料聴読解問題: Graphs, Charts, and Tables 5.3 資料聴読解問題: Schedules, Advertisements, and Quotations 5.4 総合聴読解問題: Long Document/Audio Pairs and Time Management

6 Part 3 Reading: Vocabulary, Grammar, and Expressions

6.1 語彙・文法: Vocabulary in Context 6.2 語彙・文法: Grammar in Business Sentences 6.3 表現読解: Choosing the Right Honorific Form 6.4 表現読解: Business Set Phrases in Writing

7 Part 3 Reading: Comprehensive Reading

7.1 総合読解: Business Emails 7.2 総合読解: Internal Notices, Memos, and Meeting Minutes 7.3 総合読解: Reports and News Articles 7.4 Reading Strategy: Skim, Locate, Infer

8 Test-Day Strategy and Final Review

8.1 CBT Test-Day Logistics, ID, and NDA 8.2 Pacing Across the Three Parts 8.3 Common Traps and Distractor Patterns 8.4 Three-Month Study Plan and Final Review

3.2 Honorific Prefixes お/ご, Counters, and Suffixes

Key Takeaways Explain This Topic AI

お attaches to 訓読み native nouns (お名前, お電話) while ご attaches to 音読み Sino-Japanese nouns (ご住所, ご連絡); mismatching them is a classic BJT error.

Foreign-loanwords and a few native words like お茶, お肉, ご飯 are 美化語 (beautified everyday words), not honorifics, and cannot be used to elevate the listener.

Counters are register-sensitive: 名 (polite) vs 人 (casual) for people, 部 for copies of documents, 通 for letters and emails, and 件 for matters/emails counted.

Numbers above 100 use the 万/億/兆 system (4-digit grouping), so 12万3千 is read じゅうにまんさんぜん — never "百二十三千".

様 addresses an individual; 御中 addresses a department or organization as a whole and must never follow a personal name.

Last updated: July 2026

3.2 Honorific Prefixes お/ご, Counters, and Suffixes

Quick Answer: Japanese politeness is built into the word itself via prefixes (お/ご), counters (個, 枚, 名, 部, 通), and suffixes (様, 御中). The BJT tests the smallest choices — お vs ご, 人 vs 名, 様 vs 御中 — and they appear in every listening script and email.

お — Honorific Prefix for 訓読み Nouns

お attaches to native-Japanese (訓読み) nouns to make them polite when referring to the listener's side:

お名前, お電話, お時間, お荷物, お忙しいところ, お休み, お席, お顔, お袖, お身体, お住まい, お着物, お気持ち.

ご — Honorific Prefix for 音読み Nouns

ご attaches to Sino-Japanese (音読み) nouns:

ご住所, ご連絡, ご家族, ご職業, ご意見, ご相談, ご案内, ご利用, ご確認, ご出席, ご挨拶, ご返事, ご注文, ご説明, ご理解, ご覧.

謙譲語 Prefixes on Humble Verbs — お/ご～する, お/ご～いたす

The same お/ご prefixes also mark humble (謙譲語) verbs in the forms お～する / ご～する and the more formal お～いたす / ご～いたす. The speaker lowers their own action to honor the listener:

  • ご案内いたします (I will humbly guide you)
  • お持ちいたします (I will humbly carry it)
  • ご説明いたします (I will humbly explain)
  • お伝えいたします (I will humbly convey it)

Trap: the prefix on a humble form must refer to the speaker's own action . Using お/ご～する to describe the listener's or a third party's action breaks keigo and is a frequent BJT email error. ×ご案内いたしますね (when the listener is the one guiding) → ○ご案内くださいね (request the listener's action with sonkeigo). The still-more-formal ご～申す (ご案内申します, ご報告申します) is reserved for the speaker's side only.

美化語 vs 尊敬語 vs 謙譲語 — Three Distinct Functions

A prefixed word is not automatically honorific. Distinguish three functions:

尊敬語 (sonkeigo) — お/ご on the listener's or superior's action or state, elevating them (ご連絡, お考えになる).

謙譲語 (kenjougo) — お/ご～する/いたす on the speaker's own action, lowering the speaker to honor the listener (ご連絡いたします).

美化語 (bikago) — お/ご on everyday nouns that sound refined without elevating anyone (お茶, お肉, お飯, ご飯, お金, お酒, お風呂).

You can say お茶をどうぞ without implying politeness toward the listener's tea; the お is decorative. The BJT will test whether you can detect this — a sentence built with 美化語 nouns is not necessarily polite in register, and swapping 美化語 for true honorific prefixes does not change who is being elevated.

Exceptions and Traps

Fixed exceptions: お電話 is お even though 電話 is 音読み; お時間 (時間 is 音読み) — these are idiomatic and must be memorized.

Mismatched prefixes are common BJT errors: ×お住所 → ○ご住所; ×ご名前 → ○お名前; ×ご電話 → ○お電話.

Foreign-origin words generally do not take お/ご: ×おコーヒー, ×ごパソコン, ×おメール. A few have fossilized: おビール, おタバコ (older speakers).

Counters in Business Contexts

  • Counter Use Example
  • 〜つ (1–9) General, native count 1つ, 2つ … 9つ (only to 9)
  • 個 (ko) Small items, samples サンプルを3個
  • 冊 (satsu) Books, pamphlets, bound docs パンフレットを2冊
  • 部 (bu) Copies of documents 議事録を10部
  • 通 (tsū) Letters, emails, faxes メールを3通
  • 件 (ken) Matters, emails (counted) お問い合わせ5件
  • 名 (mei) People (polite) ご参加者30名
  • 人 (nin) People (casual) 3人 (use 名 in formal)
  • 本 (hon) Bottles, pens, long objects ペンを2本
  • 台 (dai) Machines, cars, PCs パソコン5台
  • 枚 (mai) Flat objects, sheets, invoices 請求書3枚
  • 円 (en) Yen 5,000円
  • 泊 (haku) Nights stayed 2泊3日
  • 日間 (nichikan) Days 3日間
  • 時 (ji) / 分 (fun/pun) Clock time 3時45分
  • 時間 (jikan) Duration 3時間
  • 音便 — Sound-Change Euphony in Counter Readings

Counters whose first consonant is h undergo euphonic alternation (p/b) after 1, 6, 8, 10 (gemination + p) and after 3 (voicing to b). Master the h → p/b alternation explicitly:

  • Counter 1 2 3 4 6 8 10
  • 本 いっぽん にほん さんぼん よんほん ろっぽん はっぽん じゅっぽん
  • 杯 いっぱい にはい さんばい よんはい ろっぱい はっぱい じゅっぱい
  • 枚 いちまい にまい さんまい よんまい ろくまい はちまい じゅうまい
  • 冊 いっさつ にさつ さんさつ よんさつ ろくさつ はっさつ じゅっさつ
  • 丁 いっちょう にちょう さんちょう よんちょう ろっちょう はっちょう じゅっちょう

The pattern is consistent: 1, 6, 8, 10 trigger 促音 (っ) + p on h-counters (本, 杯); 3 triggers 濁音 (b) on the same counters. Counters starting with s (冊, 世, 隻) geminate after 1, 6, 8, 10 (いっさつ, ろくさつ, はっさつ, じゅっさつ). Counters starting with ch (丁, 町) also geminate. Counters without h/s/ch onsets (枚, 人, 名, 日) generally read straight through except for 1 いち → いっ before s/p/t/k.

Time and Duration Counters — When the Suffix is Optional

Counter Means Omissible?

  • 週間 weeks of duration optional after 週: 3週(間)
  • 月間 months of duration optional after 月: 3月(間) — but 3月 without 間 reads "March"
  • 年間 years of duration optional after 年: 3年(間) — but 3年 alone can mean "3rd year"
  • 時間 hours of duration never omissible — 3時 means "3 o'clock," not "3 hours"
  • 分間 minutes of duration omissible in context: 3分(間)待つ
  • 秒 seconds typically bare; 秒間 is rare

The BJT loves the 時間 vs 時 distinction: 会議は3時間です (the meeting lasts 3 hours) vs 会議は3時です (the meeting starts at 3 o'clock). Dropping 間 changes the meaning entirely.

Number Pronunciation Traps: 4, 7, 9

Digit Readings When each reading is required

4 よ, よん, し 4時 = よじ (clock); 4月 = しがつ (month); 4年 = よねん (years); 4つ = よっつ (count); 4人 = よにん; counter-default よんほん (avoids しほん "death book")

7 なな, しち 7時 = しちじ (clock); 7月 = しちがつ (month); 7つ = ななつ; 7人 = ななにん; 7名 = ななめい; 7時間 = しちじかん / ななじかん (なな preferred to avoid confusion with 1時)

9 く, きゅう 9時 = くじ (clock); 9月 = くがつ (month); 9年 = きゅうねん; 9つ = ここのつ; 9人 = きゅうにん; 9分 = くふん (avoids きゅうふん "smell of resting")

The default-safe rule for counters is よん, なな, きゅう (よんほん, ななめい, きゅうまい) — these avoid homophones (death, seven=one, smell) and are acceptable in business prose. The pure readings し, しち, く dominate fixed words (4月 しがつ, 7時 しちじ, 9時 くじ).

Large Numbers — 万 / 億 / 兆 System

Japanese groups numbers in four-digit blocks. Master the ladder: 百 (10²) → 千 (10³) → 万 (10⁴) → 億 (10⁸) → 兆 (10¹²). Within each block, you read 百/千 in front of the unit.

  • Number Reading Construction
  • 1,500 千五百 1×千 + 5×百
  • 12,000 一万二千 1×万 + 2×千
  • 123,000 十二万三千 12×万 + 3×千
  • 1,200,000 百二十万 120×万
  • 12,345,000 千二百三十四万五千 1234×万 + 5×千
  • 150,000,000 一億五千万 1×億 + 5000×万

Trap: 千 and 百 never take 一 (×一千, ×一百) but 万 and 億 do take 一 (一万, 一億). Within 万 the multiplier can be 1–9999.

Suffixes for Company Names

様 (sama) — addresses an individual person (a specific 社長, 部長, 担当者).

御中 (onchū) — addresses a department or organization as a whole (〇〇株式会社 御中, 〇〇株式会社 営業部 御中).

殿 (dono) — formal, often internal written, or to a recognized subordinate in formal documents. Outdated for external customers.

〇〇様方 (sama-kata) — used when forwarding mail c/o someone: 「山田 様方 田中 様」 means "Mr. Tanaka c/o Mr. Yamada." The 様方 marker follows the person whose address is used; the actual recipient gets 様.

The hard rule: never put 御中 after a personal name . 「〇〇株式会社 山田 御中」 is wrong; use 「山田 様」. Conversely, 「〇〇株式会社 営業部 様」 is wrong when the unit, not a person, is the addressee — use 御中. When both department and person are present, the person wins: 「〇〇株式会社 営業部 山田 様」.

Department-Only Addressing — Order Matters

When addressing a department inside a company, the order is company → department → 御中 :

  • ○ 「〇〇株式会社 営業部 御中」 (correct)
  • × 「〇〇株式会社 御中 営業部」 (wrong — 御中 must close the address, not interrupt it)
  • × 「〇〇株式会社 営業部 様」 (wrong — 様 is for a person, not a unit)

When a specific person is named, the order becomes company → department → name → 様 : 「〇〇株式会社 営業部 山田 様」. Do not insert 御中 in front of a person's name; the named person is the final addressee and takes 様.

Five Counter/Prefix Traps BJT Loves

Prefix mismatch : 「ご名前」「お住所」 — both wrong. Test by checking 訓読み → お vs 音読み → ご, with お電話 / お時間 as memorized exceptions.

Counter register : a receptionist says 「本日は3人来社予定です」 — in a formal email she should write 「3名」. BJT marks the casual form as wrong when the speaker's role demands polite register.

人 vs 名 vs 名様 : 「お客様3名様」 doubles up; pick one — 「3名様」 is enough, 「3名」 is bare polite, 「3人」 is casual.

Humble prefix on the wrong actor : 「ご説明いたします」 is fine when the speaker explains, but 「ご説明いたしますね」 said to a customer who is the one explaining inverts the keigo direction. Use 「ご説明ください」 to honor the listener's action.

時間 vs 時, 間 omission traps : dropping 間 in 「3時間」 produces 「3時」 (3 o'clock), changing duration to clock time. Similarly, 「3年」 alone is ambiguous (3 years or 3rd year); add 間 when the duration sense is required.