お

Prefix (Basic ㊦ 343)

A prefix that expresses politeness.

石田先生は英語でお話しになった・なりました。
Professor Ishida talked in English.
私は昨日山崎先生にお会いした・しました。
I met Professor Yamazaki yesterday.
今村さんはゴルフがお好きだ・好きです。
Mr. Imamura likes golf.
お飲み物は何が宜しいですか。
As for drinks, what would be good?
田村先生は今とてもお忙しい。
Professor Tamura is very busy now.
毎日お暑いですね。
It's hot day after day, isn't it?
上田先生はテニスがお上手です。
Professor Ueda is good at tennis.
宮本さんの奥様はとてもお奇麗だ。
Mrs. Miyamoto is very pretty.
野村さんからお電話がありました。
There was a phone call from Mr. Nomura.
お昼ご飯はもう食べましたか。
Have you had your lunch yet?

Formation

おVますになる  
おVますする  
おAdjective い/なお忙しい Someone is busy
 お上手だ Someone is good at ~
おNounお金 Money

Notes

1. The polite prefix お is used with verbs, adjectives and nouns to express the speaker's respect, modesty or politeness. おVerbますになる is an honorific polite expression and おVerbますする is a humble polite expression.

(⇨ お~になる; お~する)

2. おAdjective can be either an honorific polite expression, as in Examples (a), (c) and (d), or a simple polite expression, as in Example (b).

3. おNoun is used in various ways:

4. お cannot be attached to the following words:

There are some exceptions to this rule. For example:

These exceptions are words which have been part of the Japanese vocabulary long enough to sound like Japanese-origin words to native speakers.

5. There are a few words which are always used with the polite prefix お or ご.

【Related Expression】

There is another polite prefix, ご. Basically, ご is used for Chinese-origin words and お for Japanese-origin words. Examples follow:

[1] な type adjectives (い type adjectives are all Japanese-origin words; therefore, they are all preceded by お)

[2] Nouns

There are, however, some Chinese-origin words which require the use of お. These exceptions are words which have become assimilated to the point that native speakers no longer consider them to be "borrowed" words. The words in [3] are examples of such exceptions.

[3]

There are very few examples of ご Japanese-origin words.

[4]