Re: Honorific and extra modest expressions

Konrad Viltersten (Den Ende) said the following on 4/16/2005 5:36 AM:

How do i create an extra modest expression? The book
only gives me a short list of what the different verb will
become but what if i'd like to modestify an other one?

お聞きします、お伺いします、お持ちいたしましょうか。　You mean like that? (I'll assume you don't mean humble verbs, like 参る instead of 行く.)

Let's say i'm to say "to spend time pleasently". That
would be 遊ぶ. But what if i'm to spend that time in an
extra modest manner?

The recipient of the action has to be implied, so the modest aspect is only in comparison with that person. For example, with お聞きします, the person being asked is elevated and your a lowered in relation to that. In お持ちいたしましょうか, the person whose bag you're offering to carry is elevated, and so on.

That means that in practice, not every verb is subject to this. In your example of 遊ぶ, you can't say お遊びします (aside from the fact that that's standard baby-talk (i.e., the way adults speak to children) for 遊ぶ). If you wanted to say that you played with a higher-up and wanted to express that, you'd say something like 遊ばせていただきました - lit., "he/she/it/they let me play." In the same way, you can't say "I humble go home" with お帰りします, because the person you're speaking to isn't actually the recipient of your action (even if by going home you're doing them a big favor).

However, the -（さ）せていただく form can be used with pretty much any verb to create a humble version. A slightly less humble form would be - （さ）せてもらう, but either way, you won't need to know these forms when you first get to Japan, except passively maybe. You definitely won't be expected to use them. That is, no one will think you're rude if you don't.

Marc
.