伺（うかが）う is a remarkable verb: one word that humbles three different actions — 行く／来る ("visit"), 聞く／尋ねる ("ask"), and 聞く ("hear/learn of") — as long as each is pointed at someone you honor. You visit their home, ask them a question, hear news of them. That shared target is the key: 伺う is 謙譲語I（けんじょうご, kenjōgo）, a humble that always aims at a specific honored person, which is exactly what separates it from its neutral cousin 参（まい）る.
伺う = visit (an honored person's place)
The first use is "to go / come to" a superior's location — their home, their office, their company. You are lowering your own approach toward them.
明日、お宅に伺います。
ashita, o-taku ni ukagaimasu
I'll visit your home tomorrow.
三時に御社へ伺いますので、よろしくお願いいたします。
sanji ni onsha e ukagaimasu node, yoroshiku o-negai itashimasu
I'll come to your company at three, so thank you in advance.
The destination is a person's place. This is the crucial constraint below — you visit people you honor, not neutral locations.
伺う = ask (an honored person a question)
The second use humbles 聞く／尋ねる: putting a question to someone you honor. It is the standard polite way to open a query.
すみません、ちょっと伺いますが、駅はどちらでしょうか。
sumimasen, chotto ukagaimasu ga, eki wa dochira deshō ka
Excuse me, may I ask — which way is the station?
一つ伺ってもよろしいですか。
hitotsu ukagatte mo yoroshii desu ka
May I ask you one thing?
道を伺いたいのですが、少しお時間よろしいですか。
michi o ukagaitai no desu ga, sukoshi o-jikan yoroshii desu ka
I'd like to ask you the way — do you have a moment?
Notice ちょっと伺いますが — a set opener for approaching a stranger politely. Even asking a passer-by for directions, you humble your asking with 伺う, because you are directing the question at them.
伺う = hear (learn of an honored person)
The third use humbles 聞く in its "hear about / be told" sense — receiving news, a reputation, or word of the honored person.
お噂はかねがね伺っております。
o-uwasa wa kanegane ukagatte orimasu
I've heard so much about you.
ご意見を伺えますでしょうか。
go-iken o ukagaemasu deshō ka
Might I hear your opinion?
ご意見を伺う sits right on the seam between "ask" and "hear" — you ask for, and thereby hear, their opinion. That overlap is the whole logic of the verb.
The unifying idea: approach the honored other to receive something
Why does one verb cover visit, ask, and hear? Because all three are the same gesture: you approach an honored person to receive something from them — their presence (you go to them), their answer (you ask them), or their news (you hear of them). English needs three different verbs; Japanese sees one humble motion toward a superior, and lets the object and context sort out which English word applies.
伺う vs 参る — the exalted-referent split
This is the pairing to burn in. Both 伺う and 参る are humble ways to say "go/come," but they belong to different sub-types, and choosing wrong is a real error of nuance.
| 参る | 伺う | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | 丁重語 (teichōgo) | 謙譲語I (kenjōgo) |
| Needs an honored referent? | No — just lowers your own going | Yes — you go to a specific honored person/place |
| Typical use | announcements, neutral formal "I'll go" | visiting a superior, a client's office, a teacher's home |
| Example | 電車がまいります (a train "comes") | 先生のお宅に伺います (visit the teacher's home) |
来週、京都に参ります。ついでに恩師のお宅にも伺うつもりです。
raishū, kyōto ni mairimasu. tsuide ni onshi no o-taku ni mo ukagau tsumori desu
I'm going to Kyoto next week. While I'm there, I also plan to visit my old teacher's home.
That one sentence draws the line cleanly: 参る for the neutral trip to Kyoto (a place, nobody elevated), 伺う for visiting the teacher's home (an honored person). This is the identical 丁重語／謙譲語I contrast that splits 申す from 申し上げる. See 参る for the full teichōgo story, and note that when the point of the visit is meeting the person, the specialized humble is お目にかかる ("to have the honor of meeting you").
The double-humble お伺いする
You will hear お伺いします and お伺いいたします constantly, especially for "ask." Strictly these stack お＋伺う (already humble)＋する/いたす — a 二重敬語 — but they are so entrenched that they read as fully standard, even softer, in business speech. The plain 伺います is never wrong, so use it when you want the clean form.
その件について、後ほどお伺いしてもよろしいでしょうか。
sono ken ni tsuite, nochihodo o-ukagai shite mo yoroshii deshō ka
Might I ask you about that matter later on?
The "hear" sense freezes into a warm first-meeting greeting. お噂はかねがね伺っております ("I've long heard about you") flatters the listener by implying their reputation reached you well before you met — the humble 伺う doing social work that a neutral 聞く could never manage.
お名前はかねがね伺っております。お会いできて光栄です。
o-namae wa kanegane ukagatte orimasu. o-ai dekite kōei desu
I've heard your name many times. It's an honor to meet you.
Common mistakes
1. Using 伺う for a status-neutral destination. You visit people and their places, not bare locations. Going to a station, a convenience store, or the bathroom has no honored referent — use 行く or the humble 参る.
❌ これから駅に伺います。
Wrong — a station is no one's honored place; 伺う needs a person to elevate. Use 行きます / 参ります.
✅ これから駅に参ります。
kore kara eki ni mairimasu
I'm heading to the station now.
2. Using 伺う for a superior's asking. 伺う humbles your asking. When the honored person asks, elevate them with お聞きになる or お尋ねになる.
❌ 何かご不明な点があれば、伺ってください。
Wrong — this humbles the customer's asking. Their asking is elevated: お尋ねください / お聞きください.
✅ 何かご不明な点があれば、お尋ねください。
nani ka go-fumei na ten ga areba, o-tazune kudasai
If anything is unclear, please ask.
3. Confusing 伺う with 参る when a person is honored. Announcing a neutral "I'll go" is 参る, but if you are going to a client, the finer 伺う marks the honored destination. Using 参る there is not wrong, just blunter than the situation invites.
❌ 明日、お客様のところに参ります。
Understandable but blunt — visiting the customer specifically calls for the honored-referent 伺う.
✅ 明日、お客様のところに伺います。
ashita, o-kyakusama no tokoro ni ukagaimasu
I'll visit the customer tomorrow.
4. Aiming 伺う at your own in-group's hearing to an outsider. 伺う elevates the source of what you hear. You do not 伺う your own colleague's words when relaying them.
❌ その話は、うちの部長から伺いました。
Wrong to an outsider — 伺う elevates the source, but your own manager is うち. Use 聞きました.
✅ その話は、うちの部長から聞きました。
sono hanashi wa, uchi no buchō kara kikimashita
I heard about that from our manager.
Key takeaways
- 伺う is a 謙譲語I verb humbling three actions at once — visit (お宅に伺う), ask (道を伺う), and hear (お噂を伺う).
- All three are one gesture: humbly approaching an honored person to receive their presence, answer, or news. The object tells you which English verb applies.
- 伺う needs an honored referent; its neutral twin 参る (丁重語) does not — 京都に参る (a place) vs 先生に伺う (a person). Same split as 申す／申し上げる.
- You visit people, not stations: a status-neutral destination takes 行く／参る, never 伺う.
- A superior's asking is elevated (お尋ねになる), not humbled — 伺う is only for your asking.
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- 参る: Humble Go / ComeN3 — The humble verb 参る for your own going and coming — why it is 丁重語 that lowers your speech toward the listener rather than toward a destination, so a statusless train can 参る in an announcement, and how that sets it apart from 伺う.
- Special Kenjougo VerbsN3 — The suppletive humble verbs — 参る・伺う, 申す・申し上げる, いたす, 拝見する, いただく, おる, 存じる and the rest — that override お〜する for Japanese's highest-frequency verbs, sorted by the 謙譲語I / 丁重語 split that tells you whether each one needs an honored target.
- お目にかかる: Humble MeetN3 — お目にかかる is the humble form of 会う — literally 'to come before your honorable eyes' — used only for your own act of meeting a superior, and its near-twin お目にかける ('to show') hangs on the very same eye-image.