Kenjougo verb patterns and examples

Japanese Humble Verbs (Kenjougo) — Complete List

~6 min read

Japanese humble verbs, also called kenjougo verbs, are the verb forms Japanese uses to lower the speaker or the speaker’s side in relation to another person. This page is a practical kenjougo reference list organised by pattern, so you can quickly look up common forms and examples before moving on to fuller lessons.

Use this page as a quick lookup list for common humble verb patterns, then follow the linked lessons for full explanations and usage notes.

If you want a structured path rather than a lookup list, start with the Complete Japanese Kenjougo Course.

○ Complete Japanese Kenjougo Course

Replacing Form Kenjougo Verbs

These are kenjougo replacing verbs, where Japanese swaps the plain verb out for a completely different humble verb.

These are some of the highest-priority humble forms to memorise first because many of them appear frequently in formal Japanese.

ENGLISH	PLAIN VERB	HUMBLE VERB
To receive	貰う もらう	頂く いただく
To eat	食べる たべる	頂く いただく
To drink	飲む のむ	頂く いただく
To give	上げる あげる	差し上げる さしあげる
To say	言う いう	申し上げる もうしあげる
To listen	聞く きく	伺う うかがう
To go	行く いく	伺う うかがう
To come	来る くる	伺う うかがう 参上 さんじょう お邪魔する おじゃまする
To display	見せる みせる	御覧に入れる ごらんにいれる
To meet	会う あう	お目にかかる おめにかかる
To give	あげる	献上する けんじょうする 進呈する しんていする
To receive	貰う もらう	頂戴する ちょうだいする
To know	知る しる	存じ上げる ぞんじあげる
To let know	知らせる しらせる	お耳に入れる おみみにいれる
To listen; to take an order	聞く きく ・ 引き受ける ひきうける	承る うけたまわる

Want the full explanation behind these special humble forms? Start with my lesson on replacing-form kenjougo verbs.

○ Replacing Form Kenjougo Verbs

Adding Form Kenjougo Verbs

These are adding-form kenjougo verbs, where humble meaning is built with productive patterns such as お〜するお〜する and ご〜するご〜する rather than by replacing the verb entirely.

Unlike replacing verbs, these patterns can be used more broadly once you understand the rule, which makes them especially useful for active speaking and writing.

For example: 話すはなす → お話しするおはなしする

CATEGORY	WORD TYPE	FORM	EXAMPLE
Adding	Native	お〜する	お話しする おはなしする
Adding	Sino-Japanese	ご〜する	ご紹介する ごしょうかいする
Adding + Mōshiageru	Native	お〜申し上げ る お〜もうしあげる	お呼び出し申し上げ る およびだしもうしあげる
Adding + Mōshiageru	Sino-Japanese	ご〜申し上げ る ご〜もうしあげる	ご案内申し上げる ごあんないもうしあげる
Hai-initial	Sino-Japanese	ご〜拝〇〜す る ご〜はい〇〜する	ご拝見する ごはいけんする

If you want to learn how patterns like お〜するお〜する and ご〜するご〜する are built step by step, read my lesson on adding-form kenjougo verbs.

○ Adding Form Kenjougo Verbs

If you want to zoom back out from humble verbs and see how kenjougo fits into the wider system, read Japanese honorifics explained.

○ Japanese honorifics explained

Japanese humble verbs are not just one thing — they include special replacing forms and productive adding patterns. Use this page as a quick kenjougo lookup list, then follow the linked lessons to learn which forms are most common and when they sound natural.