2.2 Sonkeigo (Respectful Language) — Forms and Use

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

2.2 Sonkeigo (Respectful Language) — Forms and Use

Key Takeaways Explain This Topic AI

Sonkeigo elevates the subject — used for the customer's, boss's, or senior's actions; never for the speaker or the speaker's in-group.

Regular sonkeigo formation patterns are お/ご + verb stem + になる (お読みになる, ご利用になる) and verb stem + れる/られる (読まれる, 来られる).

The BJT tests a fixed set of suppletive sonkeigo verbs, including いる→いらっしゃる, する→なさる, 言う→おっしゃる, 食べる→召し上がる, 見る→ご覧になる, くれる→くださる, 知っている→ご存知だ.

Honorific prefixes お (kun-yomi nouns) and ご (on-yomi nouns) attach to the other party's nouns: お名前, ご住所, ご連絡, お電話.

二重敬語 (double honorific) errors like お召し上がりになる are tested traps — once a verb is suppletive, you cannot stack a second honorific pattern on top.

Last updated: July 2026

2.2 Sonkeigo (Respectful Language) — Forms and Use

Quick Answer: Sonkeigo (尊敬語) elevates the subject of the verb. Use it for the customer's, boss's, or senior's actions — never for yourself or your in-group. The BJT tests regular patterns (お〜になる, れる/られる), a fixed set of suppletive verbs (いらっしゃる, なさる, おっしゃる, 召し上がる, ご覧になる, くださる, ご存知だ), and the trap of 二重敬語 (double honorifics).

When to Use Sonkeigo

Use sonkeigo when the subject of the verb is a person you are honoring — typically the customer, your boss, your senior, or anyone in the out-group/superior position. The rule is absolute: never use sonkeigo for your own actions or for the actions of someone in your in-group when speaking to an outsider.

Concrete cases on the BJT:

• The customer comes, goes, is present, looks, says, eats, knows, gives → sonkeigo
• Your boss, in a context where you are not speaking to an outsider, performs an action → sonkeigo
• Your own action, even if it is identical to the customer's action → NOT sonkeigo (kenjougo or teineigo)
• Regular Formation Patterns

Most verbs form sonkeigo with one of two regular patterns:

• Pattern Structure Example
• お/ご + verb stem + になる お + 読み (stem) + になる お読みになる (to read — respectful)
• ご + on-yomi Sino-Japanese verb stem + になる ご + 利用 + になる ご利用になる (to use — respectful)
• verb stem + れる/られる 読む → 読まれる 読まれる (to read — respectful)
• irregular 来られる 来る → 来られる (often replaced by いらっしゃる)

The お〜になる pattern is the safer default in business writing because the れる/られる passive-style sonkeigo can be ambiguous with the passive voice. Note also that 来られる is rarely used in business speech; the suppletive いらっしゃる or お越しになる is preferred.

Special Suppletive Forms

The BJT tests a fixed set of irregular (suppletive) sonkeigo verbs. You must recognize them instantly in listening, because the plain verb never appears in the answer choices when a sonkeigo form is being tested.

• Plain Sonkeigo Notes
• いる いらっしゃる Also used for 行く and 来る
• 行く いらっしゃる / お越しになる いらっしゃる covers いる/行く/来る
• 来る いらっしゃる / 見える / お見えになる 見える is formal reception language
• する なさる ご〜なさる for Sino-Japanese verbs
• 言う おっしゃる
• 食べる / 飲む あがる / 召し上がる 召し上がる is the standard business form
• 見る ご覧になる Already includes になる — do NOT say ×ご覧になられる
• くれる くださる As in お越し下さい → お越しくださる
• 知っている ご存知だ ご存知の通り (as you know)
• 着る お召しになる Already suppletive — do NOT say ×お召しになりになる
• Honorific Prefixes お and ご

Honorific prefixes attach to the other party's nouns to show respect independent of any verb. The rough rule is お + kun-yomi (native Japanese) nouns and ご + on-yomi (Sino-Japanese) nouns , but there are exceptions and you should learn the business set as fixed collocations.

• Prefix + Noun Reading Meaning
• お名前 おなまえ your name
• ご住所 ごじゅうしょ your address
• ご連絡 ごれんらく your contact
• お電話 おでんわ your phone (call)
• ご意見 ごいけん your opinion
• ご家族 ごかぞく your family
• お仕事 おしごと your work
• お会社 おかいしゃ your company (less common; 御社 おんしゃ is more common in speech)

A prefix on the speaker's own noun is not sonkeigo — it is 美化語 (beautifying, Section 2.4) when it is just softening (お茶, お肉), and it is humble/kenjougo-style when the noun belongs to the speaker and is being offered to the listener (お詫び, お返事 — these often pair with humble verbs like 申し上げる).

Common Business Sonkeigo Collocations

The BJT frequently embeds these set collocations in dialogue. Memorize them as units:

• ご確認ください — please confirm (respectful request)
• お越しください — please come (visit)
• ご利用ください — please use
• ご覧ください — please look (note: ご覧 is the noun form of ご覧になる)
• お待ちください / お待ちになってください — please wait
• お気をつけになって — please take care
• Traps: 二重敬語 and する-verbs

The two traps the BJT repeatedly tests in expression-reading items:

お〜になる cannot attach directly to する-verbs. ×おするになる is ungrammatical. The correct sonkeigo for する is なさる, or for Sino-Japanese compound verbs, ご〜になる (ご利用になる, not ×お利用するになる). When you see an answer choice that inserts お〜になる onto a する verb, eliminate it.

二重敬語 (double honorific) errors. A suppletive verb is already fully honorific; stacking a second pattern is wrong. The classic examples:

• ×お召し上がりになる (wrong — 召し上がる is already sonkeigo) → ○召し上がる
• ×ご覧になられる (wrong — ご覧になる already includes になる) → ○ご覧になる
• ×おいでになられる (wrong — いらっしゃる/おいでになる already suppletive) → ○いらっしゃる / おいでになる

The BJT will often present one answer that is a 二重敬語 error alongside the correct single-honorific form. The error usually sounds more polite, which is the trap.

• Mini Dialogue
• Customer (to clerk): 「この資料、ご覧になってもよろしいですか。」 Clerk: 「はい、どうぞご覧ください。ご不明な点がございましたら、お気軽におっしゃってください。」

Parse the verbs: ご覧になる (sonkeigo — the customer looks), ご覧ください (sonkeigo imperative — the clerk invites the customer to look), おっしゃる (sonkeigo for 言う — the customer says). The clerk never uses sonkeigo for her own action; she uses teineigo (ございます) and humble forms for her own offering.