Most verbs do not have a special humble word like 伺う or 拝見する. For all the rest, 謙譲語 has a single productive template you can bolt onto almost any verb to lower your own action: お + the verb's ます-stem + する. 持つ becomes お持ちする, 送る becomes お送りする, 届ける becomes お届けする. Learn this one frame and you can humble yourself before a customer, a client, or a boss even for a verb you have never seen in keigo before. It is the exact mirror of the honorific お〜になる — the same お + ます-stem scaffold — but it ends in self-lowering する instead of elevating になる, so it points the deference in the opposite direction.
The formation: お + ます-stem + する
The stem you attach to is the 連用形 (ます-stem) — what is left when you strip ます off the polite verb — never the dictionary form. This is the single most important mechanical point on the page, and the commonest place learners slip.
| Dictionary | ます-form | ます-stem | お〜する |
|---|---|---|---|
| 持つ (carry) | 持ちます | 持ち | お持ちする |
| 送る (send) | 送ります | 送り | お送りする |
| 届ける (deliver) | 届けます | 届け | お届けする |
| 調べる (look into) | 調べます | 調べ | お調べする |
| 伝える (convey) | 伝えます | 伝え | お伝えする |
| 預かる (hold / keep) | 預かります | 預かり | お預かりする |
So the recipe is: conjugate to ます, drop the ます, prefix お, and finish with する. The する half then conjugates like any する-verb — します, しました, して — to carry tense and politeness.
お荷物をお持ちします。
o-nimotsu o o-mochi shimasu
I'll carry your bag.
資料は明日お送りします。
shiryō wa ashita o-okuri shimasu
I'll send the materials tomorrow.
お預かりした書類は、確かにお返しします。
o-azukari shita shorui wa, tashika ni o-kaeshi shimasu
The documents I'm holding for you, I'll return without fail.
The ご〜する variant for Sino verbs
When the verb is a する-verb built on a Sino-Japanese noun (案内する, 連絡する, 説明する), the pattern uses ご instead of お, and the Sino noun sits directly on する: 案内する → ご案内する, 連絡する → ご連絡する, 説明する → ご説明する. This is the same 和語／漢語 split that governs the noun prefixes — native readings take お, Sino readings take ご (see お vs ご: 和語 vs 漢語). The productive humble simply inherits that choice, exactly as its honorific mirror ご〜になる does.
受付でご案内します。どうぞこちらへ。
uketsuke de go-annai shimasu. dōzo kochira e
I'll show you the way at reception. This way, please.
決まり次第、メールでご連絡します。
kimari shidai, mēru de go-renraku shimasu
I'll get in touch by email as soon as it's decided.
お〜いたす: the heavier, more formal grade
Swap する for its own humble form いたす and you get お + ます-stem + いたす, a notch more deferential than お〜する. お持ちいたします, ご案内いたします, お電話いたします — this is the default in polished business speech, service, and writing, where お〜する alone can feel a touch plain. Mechanically nothing else changes; you have just upgraded the する half.
後ほど、こちらからお電話いたします。
nochihodo, kochira kara o-denwa itashimasu
I'll give you a call from our end a little later.
会場まで、係の者がご案内いたします。
kaijō made, kakari no mono ga go-annai itashimasu
A staff member will show you to the venue.
The catch: it needs an honored recipient
Here is the deepest point on the page, and the one that separates a learner who knows the rule from one who understands the pattern. お〜する does not simply mark modesty — it encodes a two-party relationship. It humbles your action relative to the out-group person that action touches. Remove that person and the pattern has nothing to lean against, and it stops making sense.
So お持ちする is right when you carry the customer's bag (there is someone to humble toward), but ×お帰りする is wrong for going home to your own family — going home touches no out-group superior, so there is no one to lower yourself before. Likewise ×お掃除する for tidying your own room for nobody: cleaning benefits no honored person, so the humble frame is empty.
では、駅までお送りします。
dewa, eki made o-okuri shimasu
Well then, I'll see you to the station. (there's an honored person being escorted)
ご不明な点は、私がお調べします。
go-fumei na ten wa, watashi ga o-shirabe shimasu
If anything's unclear, I'll look into it for you.
The recipient can be the listener themselves — お願いします, お伝えします, ご連絡します all point at the person you are speaking to — which is why they feel so natural. But an intransitive, self-contained action with no そと-target (帰る to your family, 寝る, 起きる) simply cannot take お〜する.
| Action | Is there an out-group recipient? | お〜する? |
|---|---|---|
| 持つ — carry the customer's bag | yes (the customer) | ✅ お持ちする |
| 案内する — guide the guest | yes (the guest) | ✅ ご案内する |
| 帰る — go home to your family | no | ❌ (use 帰ります / 失礼します) |
| 掃除する — tidy your own room | no | ❌ (use 掃除します) |
The trap: don't run it over verbs that have a special humble
Just as with the honorific mirror, the special form wins. Verbs like 見る, 言う, もらう, 行く already own suppletive humble words, so the template is wrong for them: not ×お見する but 拝見する, not ×お言いする but 申し上げる, not ×お行きする but 伺う／参る. Check the list of special kenjougo verbs first; お〜する is only your fallback for the ordinary tail of verbs that have no special humble.
| Verb | ❌ Do not build | ✅ Use the special humble |
|---|---|---|
| 見る (see) | ×お見する | 拝見する |
| 言う (say) | ×お言いする | 申し上げる |
| もらう (receive) | ×おもらいする | いただく |
| 行く (go) | ×お行きする | 伺う／参る |
The full range of forms
Because する is an ordinary irregular verb, the whole template inflects — お〜する gives you a complete humble paradigm, not just a present tense. The お + ます-stem part stays frozen while tense, negation, and te-form live in する (or いたす).
| Form | 持つ → お持ちする | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| present | お持ちします | will carry (humble) |
| past | お持ちしました | carried |
| formal present | お持ちいたします | will carry (more formal) |
| te-form | お持ちして | carrying / and carry |
| continuous | お持ちしております | am carrying (humble) |
先ほどお借りした傘を、お返しに参りました。
saki hodo o-kari shita kasa o, o-kaeshi ni mairimashita
I've come to return the umbrella I borrowed earlier.
Common mistakes
Mistake 1 — Using the dictionary form instead of the ます-stem. The commonest structural error.
❌ 私がお荷物をお持つします。
Wrong stem — お〜する attaches to the ます-stem 持ち, not the dictionary form 持つ.
✅ 私がお荷物をお持ちします。
watashi ga o-nimotsu o o-mochi shimasu
I'll carry your luggage.
Mistake 2 — Using it with no honored recipient. A self-contained action touching no out-group person has nothing to humble toward.
❌ そろそろお帰りします。
Wrong — going home to your own family touches no honored person, so お〜する is empty. Use 帰ります / そろそろ失礼します.
✅ そろそろ失礼します。
sorosoro shitsurei shimasu
I should be getting going now.
Mistake 3 — Applying it to a verb with a special humble. Building お〜する over a suppletive humble word.
❌ 部長の書いた記事をお見しました。
Wrong route — 見る has the special humble 拝見する, which takes precedence.
✅ 部長の書いた記事を拝見しました。
buchō no kaita kiji o haiken shimashita
I read the article the manager wrote.
Mistake 4 — お where the verb is Sino (needs ご). A する-verb built on a Chinese-derived noun takes ご.
❌ お客様を会場までお案内します。
Wrong prefix — 案内 is Sino, so the humble is ご案内する, not お案内する.
✅ お客様を会場までご案内します。
o-kyakusama o kaijō made go-annai shimasu
I'll show the customer to the venue.
Mistake 5 — Using it about a superior's action. お〜する humbles the subject; the subject must be you or your in-group, never the honored person.
❌ 社長が私たちに資料をお送りしました。
Wrong axis — お〜する lowers the subject, but the president must be raised: お送りになりました.
✅ 社長が私たちに資料をお送りになりました。
shachō ga watashitachi ni shiryō o o-okuri ni narimashita
The president sent us the materials.
Key takeaways
- The template is お + ます-stem + する: 持ちます → お持ちする. Attach to the ます-stem, never the dictionary form (×お持つする).
- It is kenjougo — it lowers the subject, so the subject is you or your in-group, never the honored person (that side is お〜になる).
- ご〜する handles Sino する-verbs (ご案内する), and お〜いたす is the heavier, more formal grade for business and service.
- It needs an honored recipient: it humbles you relative to the out-group person your action touches, so a self-contained action with no target (×お帰りする, ×お掃除する) is wrong.
- Special form wins: don't build お見する (→ 拝見する) or お行きする (→ 伺う／参る) — check the special kenjougo verbs first.
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Start learning Japanese→Related Topics
- 謙譲語 Overview: Lowering Yourself to Raise ThemN3 — How humble language lowers your own action to elevate, by contrast, the out-group person it touches — the two routes (special humble verbs and the productive お〜する), and the modern split between 謙譲語I and 丁重語 that decides whether a form needs an honored target at all.
- お〜になる: The Regular Honorific PatternN3 — The productive sonkeigo template お + ます-stem + になる — how to build a respectful verb for almost anything, when the ます-stem resists it, and why the special forms always take precedence.
- いたす: Humble DoN3 — いたす is the humble of the master verb する — it lowers your own doing toward the listener, powers the compound お〜いたす one notch below お〜する, and hides inside よろしくお願いいたします.