Respect and position in Japanese: a professional request with 伺います and 申し上げます

Level B2

Respect and position in Japanese: a professional request with 伺います and 申し上げます

At work, respect in Japanese starts with a question, not a word list: who does the action, and who is raised? In this lesson Ana makes a professional request to a client, Mr Yamada, with two humble verbs, 伺います and 申し上げます, in a few uses you can rely on. おっしゃいます and いらっしゃいます come back too, but only for you to recognize. The goal is a handful of models for situations you know, not a way to convert every sentence.

Recap: a careful request, a gentle no and two verbs you have heard

Four things come back. この書類を見ていただけますか is a careful request, “would you mind looking at this document?”. 明日の会議のことで、お願いがあります names the topic and announces a request: “I have a request about tomorrow's meeting.” すみません、今日はちょっと難しいです says no gently.

From service language you also know two respectful verbs: おっしゃいます is the 言います (say) of a person you raise, and いらっしゃいます is their います, 行きます and 来ます (be, go, come). They raise the person who does the action, as in お医者様は何とおっしゃいましたか, “what did the doctor say?”.

Words for a professional request

伺う (ukagau) appears twice because this lesson uses it in two ways: going to a person you raise, and asking that person. 申し上げる (mōshiageru) is saying something to a person you raise. 部長 (buchō) is a department head, 都合 (tsugō) is whether a time or plan suits someone, お詫び (owabi) is a formal apology, 先ほど (sakihodo) is a formal “earlier”, and とおり (tōri) means “just as”. With the other person's plans you say ご都合, with the same ご as ご予約.

Model: a phone call to a client

Listen once without reading. Ana phones a client, Mr Yamada. Her department head is Mr Tanaka. She starts with the topic, as in a message, then asks to bring the documents. Mr Yamada refuses the morning and offers the afternoon, and Ana accepts. Notice how each of them refers to Tanaka.

The central question: who acts, and who is raised?

Before you choose a verb, ask who does the action. If the person you raise does it, the verb lifts that person: いらっしゃいます, おっしゃいます. If you do it, and it goes towards the person you raise, the verb lowers your side: 伺います, 申し上げます. “Humble” here is a grammatical direction, not a statement that you are worth less.

明日、私が伺います and 明日、山田様がいらっしゃいます are both about coming tomorrow, but the person who comes changes, so the verb changes. 山田様が伺います would be a mistake: it lowers the very person you want to raise.

The same goes for words. 先ほど申し上げたとおり means “as I said earlier”, and 山田様がおっしゃったとおり means “as you said, Mr Yamada”. English uses “said” both times, while in Japanese the verb itself shows whose words they were. The second sentence is for recognizing; the first is yours to use.

伺います: going to a person you raise

Use 伺います when you go to the person you raise or to their place. A time or a place with に covers most cases at work: 午後三時に伺います, 月曜日に伺います, 山田様の会社に伺います. To say what you bring, put 持って (motte) before it, the て form of 持つ (hold, have with you): 書類を持って伺います, “I'll bring the documents to you”.

To turn the visit into a request, use 伺ってもよろしいですか. This is the permission question 〜てもいいですか with よろしい, a more formal いい. It leaves the decision to the other person.

〜に伺います

伺います again: asking a person you raise

In this frame, with を and a piece of information, the same verb means “ask”. Staff at a counter often say お名前を伺ってもよろしいですか; now it is yours to say, for instance to a new client. Change only the information: お電話番号 (phone number), ご都合. On these words, the お or ご shows that the information is the other person's; your own name is plain 名前.

Usually the sentence shows which use it is: a time or place with に points to going, and something you want to know with を points to asking. With a person and に, as in 山田様に伺いました, the context decides.

〜を伺ってもよろしいですか

申し上げます: saying something to a person you raise

先ほど申し上げたとおり、〜 is a model for repeating something you have already told the same person: “as I said earlier, …”. 申し上げた is the た form. It works for a plan, as in 午後三時に伺います, and for a limit, as in 今日はちょっと難しいです. Use it when the other person needs a reminder, not after every sentence: said too often, it can sound like “I already told you”.

先(さき)ほど申し上げたとおり、〜

申し上げます in formal writing

Two fixed phrases carry most of the written work. よろしくお願い申し上げます closes a professional message and is more formal than よろしくお願いします. お詫び申し上げます is a formal apology. Say what you are apologizing for with を: 予定の変更を、お詫び申し上げます. For an event, こと turns the clause into a noun, as in ことを選びました (“I chose …”): 書類が遅れたことを、お詫び申し上げます.

These phrases belong mainly to business writing and formal announcements. For a small slip with a colleague, お詫び申し上げます is far too heavy, and すみません is what you need.

〜申し上げます

Not a word-for-word swap

伺います does not simply replace 行きます, and 申し上げます does not simply replace 言います. Each one needs a person you raise at the other end. 駅に行きます stays as it is, because this sentence has nobody raised at the end of the trip, while 山田様の会社に伺います has Mr Yamada there. A friend is not raised either: compare 友達に聞きました with 山田様に伺いました, and 友達に言いました with 部長に申し上げました.

You also do not need a special verb in every sentence. 書類のことで、お願いがあります and 今日はちょっと難しいです are already fine with a client. One trap: for your own name, the humble verb is a different one, 申します (アナと申します), never 申し上げます. When no model fits, ordinary です・ます is a safe choice. The reference lesson “Respectful and Humble Verbs in Japanese” maps the whole system.

Who is listening changes who is raised

Inside the company, Ana raises her department head: to a colleague he is 田中部長, and telling him something is 部長に申し上げました. With a client, the company is one side and the client is the other. So in most companies you drop the title and the respect for your own boss: 田中は今、会議中です (会議中, “in a meeting”), 田中も伺います. He now counts as you do: 伺います works for him too, because he is on your side. The client, on the other hand, raises him: 田中部長はいらっしゃいますか, 田中部長もいらっしゃいますか. Same man, different treatment: it depends on who is speaking and to whom. In English, “Mr Tanaka” in front of a client is simply polite; in Japanese it would raise your boss above the client.

For おっしゃいます and いらっしゃいます, your job here is to catch them and answer plainly. To 山田様は何とおっしゃいましたか you can answer 午後三時がいいそうです: そうです reports what you heard, with no respectful verb to build.

Model: the message after the call

Ana now writes to Mr Yamada, with one reader and one problem, the late documents. いつもお世話になっております (itsumo osewa ni natte orimasu) is a standard business opening, here as a fixed formula. Then come the apology, the plan and a careful request: ご都合が悪ければ、教えていただけますか uses the ば form of 悪い, so “if it doesn't suit you”. The closing and her name end it. Only two lines use 申し上げます. The others stay in です・ます, with 伺います, いただけます and おります keeping Ana's side lowered; that is normal in a message like this one. Mr Yamada replies, thanking her for getting in touch and confirming the time.

Your turn and summary

Imagine a client of your own. Ask to bring the documents tomorrow, offer a time with 伺います, and ask what suits them. Say that a colleague is coming too. If they ask the time again, answer with 先ほど申し上げたとおり. Then write two lines: an apology for the late documents, and a closing.

In summary, ask three questions: who acts, who is raised, and who is listening. 伺います goes to a person you raise, or asks them; 申し上げます says something to them, or works in the written phrases お願い申し上げます and お詫び申し上げます. いらっしゃいます and おっしゃいます raise the other person, and here you only need to recognize them. Use these models in situations you know; elsewhere, です・ます is enough.

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