Once you can make the te-form, you can make the single most useful request pattern in the language: te-form + ください = "please do X." It is the phrase you will say a hundred times a day — asking someone to wait, to write something down, to say it again, to take care. This page shows you how to build it, where its politeness actually sits, and the trap English speakers fall into by treating it as all-purpose courtesy.
The pattern
Take the te-form of any verb and attach ください. That's it.
| Verb | て-form | Request |
|---|---|---|
| 待つ (to wait) | 待って | 待ってください |
| 書く (to write) | 書いて | 書いてください |
| 言う (to say) | 言って | 言ってください |
| 気をつける (to be careful) | 気をつけて | 気をつけてください |
すみません、ちょっと待ってください。
sumimasen, chotto matte kudasai
Excuse me, please wait a moment.
ここに名前と住所を書いてください。
koko ni namae to jūsho o kaite kudasai
Please write your name and address here.
すみません、もう一度言ってください。
sumimasen, mō ichido itte kudasai
Sorry, could you say that once more, please.
Where the politeness comes from
ください is the imperative of くださる, the honorific verb "to give (to me)." So a てください request literally says "give me the favor of your doing X." You are not commanding the action directly — you are asking the listener to bestow it on you as a kindness. That framing is what makes it polite rather than bare.
Because くださる is honorific, it already elevates the listener: the giving is being done by a superior toward you. This is why てください feels respectful in ordinary interactions — a shop clerk, a teacher, a stranger on the train.
足元に気をつけてください。
ashimoto ni ki o tsukete kudasai
Please watch your step.
この書類に目を通してください。
kono shorui ni me o tōshite kudasai
Please look over this document.
It directs the listener — the English-speaker trap
Here is the point most textbooks skip. Because English "please" softens almost any request into safe territory, learners assume てください is universally polite. It is not neutral — it directs the listener to act. It is the natural voice of someone with the standing to instruct: a teacher to students, a doctor to a patient, a recipe to a cook, a sign to the public. Aimed upward at a superior — your boss, a client, a professor — a bare てください can land like a mild order.
では、教科書の五十ページを開いてください。
dewa, kyōkasho no gojū-pēji o hiraite kudasai
All right, please open your textbooks to page fifty.
卵をよく混ぜてから、砂糖を入れてください。
tamago o yoku mazete kara, satō o irete kudasai
Beat the eggs well, then add the sugar.
Those are perfectly natural — a teacher and a recipe. The speaker holds the instructing role, so directing is appropriate. The problem is only when you outrank yourself by aiming てください at someone you should be deferring to.
Softening and climbing the ladder
To make a request gentler or more deferential, you move away from the imperative ください toward a question — asking whether the listener would grant the favor, rather than telling them to.
| Form | Feel | Register |
|---|---|---|
| 〜てください | polite, directive | neutral-polite |
| 〜てくださいませんか | "won't you please…?" — softer | polite |
| 〜ていただけますか | "may I receive the favor of…?" | formal, deferential |
| 〜ていただけませんか | "couldn't I receive the favor of…?" — most deferential | formal, very polite |
The jump in politeness comes from the switch of verb: くださる ("you give to me") becomes いただく ("I humbly receive from you"). By centering your own receiving instead of the listener's giving, you lower yourself and raise them — the core move of humble language, one strand of keigo. Adding the negative question ませんか / ませんでしょうか softens further, because a negative question is less presumptuous than a positive one.
恐れ入りますが、少し声を大きくしてくださいませんか。
osore irimasu ga, sukoshi koe o ōkiku shite kudasaimasen ka
I'm terribly sorry, but would you mind speaking up a little?
お忙しいところ、少しお時間をいただけませんか。
o-isogashii tokoro, sukoshi o-jikan o itadakemasen ka
I know you're busy, but could I trouble you for a moment of your time?
Common mistakes
❌ ちょっと待つください。
chotto matsu kudasai
Incorrect — ください attaches to the te-form, not the dictionary form.
✅ ちょっと待ってください。
chotto matte kudasai
Please wait a moment.
❌ 部長、この企画書を確認してください。
buchō, kono kikakusho o kakunin shite kudasai
Risky — aiming a directive てください up at your division chief sounds like an order.
✅ 部長、この企画書をご確認いただけますか。
buchō, kono kikakusho o go-kakunin itadakemasu ka
Chief, could I have you check this proposal? (defers appropriately)
❌ もう一度言ってくれください。
mō ichido itte kure kudasai
Incorrect — くれ and ください don't stack; use one or the other.
✅ もう一度言ってください。
mō ichido itte kudasai
Please say it once more.
❌ 塩を取ってをください。
shio o totte o kudasai
Incorrect — no particle goes between the te-form and ください.
✅ 塩を取ってください。
shio o totte kudasai
Please pass the salt.
Key takeaways
- te-form + ください = "please do X" — the everyday polite request and instruction.
- ください is the imperative of the honorific くださる ("give me the favor of doing X"), which is where the politeness lives.
- It directs the listener; it is right when you may instruct, but aimed upward it can sound like an order.
- To defer, switch to the receiving verb: 〜ていただけますか／〜ていただけませんか outranks てください.
- Nothing comes between the te-form and ください; ください takes the te-form, never the dictionary form.
- For the negative ("please don't…"), see 〜ないでください; for the casual drop, see bare 〜て and 〜てちょうだい.
Now practice Japanese
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Start learning Japanese→Related Topics
- 〜ないでください: Negative RequestsN4 — The negative counterpart of てください — built on the ないで negative te-form — for asking someone please not to do something, plus its casual drop 〜ないで and the firmer 〜てはいけない.
- Bare 〜て and 〜てちょうだい: Casual RequestsN4 — How to make everyday casual requests by dropping ください to a bare te-form, and the softer, homey 〜てちょうだい — plus exactly where they sit on the request-politeness ladder.
- The て-form: Japanese's Universal ConnectorN4 — Why the tenseless, politeness-free て-form is the single most productive conjugation in Japanese — the hinge that feeds requests, progressives, sequence, permission, and dozens more constructions.
- 丁寧語 Overview: です・ます PolitenessN4 — 丁寧語 is the one keigo axis aimed at the listener — the です・ます courtesy layer that makes speech acceptable to someone you don't treat casually, independent of any respect you show the people you describe.