In business and similar settings, special honorific words like those in the table below are also used. These are not assembled on the spot by rules such as 「お＋Vます／れる・られる」; the whole word is already fixed as honorific language and must be memorized as a unit.
Paging Mr. Oyama, visiting from Yokohama: Mr. Sato is waiting for you, so please come to the reception desk on the 1st floor.
本日のご予約は山本が承りました。ありがとうございました。
Today's reservation was taken by Yamamoto. Thank you very much.
この資料、長い間拝借したままお返しもせず、たいへん申し訳ありませんでした。
I borrowed these materials for a long time and never returned them. I am terribly sorry.
A：こちらまで、お車でおいでになりましたか。 B：いいえ、電車でまいりました。
A: Did you come here by car? B: No, I came by train.
A：休みの日はいつも何をしておいでになりますか。 B：趣味のゴルフをしております。
A: What do you usually do on your days off? B: I play golf, which is my hobby.
田中はただ今、席を外しておりますので、後ほどこちらからご連絡するように申し伝えます。
Tanaka is away from his desk at the moment, so I will pass on the message that he should contact you later.
What people say in everyday speech
来る／見せる／聞く／借りる／思う／〜てくれる
This whole set of special honorific vocabulary, 「お見えになる」「拝借する」「承る」「存じる」, is a business-honorific word list that has to be memorized as whole words, and it never pops up in everyday speech. Between friends and family, people simply use plain verbs: 「田中さんが来た」「これ借りたやつ」「そう思う」. Even when being slightly polite to someone older, the most you would hear is ordinary polite forms such as 「来てくれた」「貸してもらった」, not whole-word replacement honorifics like 「お見えになる」 or 「拝借する」. That is a register reserved for service counters, business letters and formal occasions, and the more casual the setting, the less you will use it.
「お／ご〜願います」 has the same meaning as 「お／ご〜いただく／ください」, "please do...", and is used in business and similar settings to politely ask someone to do something. It is more formal than the direct 「お／ご〜ください」.
Connection お＋Vます／ご＋N ＋ 願う
Examples
事故の状況をもう一度詳しくお話し願えますか。
Could you please explain the circumstances of the accident in detail once more?
こちらで少々お待ち願えますか。
Could you please wait here for a moment?
緊急の際はこちらにご連絡願います。
In an emergency, please contact us here.
見学ご希望の方は、この書類にご記入願います。
Those who wish to tour the facility, please fill out this form.
What people say in everyday speech
確認してもらえる？／見てくれる？
「お／ご〜願えますでしょうか」 is a formal request pattern used in business settings when asking someone to do something; with friends, such an elaborate honorific shell is completely unnecessary. Among colleagues, a casual 「これ確認してもらえる？」 is typical, and with close friends you can simply say 「見といて」 or 「ちょっと見てくれる？」. The more polite question ending 「〜でしょうか」 is also often dropped in speech, giving the lighter 「〜てもらえる？」.
「お／ご〜申し上げる」 does not mean "say" but "do"; it is used when you do something for the other person, and is a more formal way of saying 「お／ご〜する」. It is often used with words such as 「喜ぶ・祈る・答える・案内する・相談する・紹介する」.
Connection お＋Vます／ご＋N ＋ 申し上げる
Examples
新校舎建設のため、ご寄付をお願い申し上げます。
We respectfully ask for your donations toward the construction of the new school building.
ただ今より今回のプロジェクトについて、私のほうからお話し申し上げます。
From here, I would like to explain this project to everyone.
被害に遭われた方に心からお見舞い申し上げます。
We extend our heartfelt sympathy to those affected by the disaster.
ただ今ご報告申し上げた件について、ご質問のある方はいらっしゃいますでしょうか。
Regarding the matter just reported, does anyone have any questions?
What people say in everyday speech
説明したい／説明するね
「お／ご〜申し上げる」 is a more formal humble form of 「お／ご〜する」 and appears almost only in business speeches and correspondence between companies. In everyday speech, to say "let me explain it to you," simply saying 「説明するね」 or 「説明したいんだけど」 is enough; a humility so deep it nearly amounts to a bow, like 「申し上げる」, would make a friend think you are being sarcastic or too distant.
「〜ばと思います」 expresses a tactful hope that the other person will do something, "if possible, I would like you to...", with a more indirect and polite tone than a direct request. It can also be used to state your own hope, as in "it would be nice if it were a bit cheaper." There is also the form 「い-adjective〜ければ／な-adjective〜であれば＋と思う」.
Connection Vば ＋ と思う
Examples
こちらの事情をご理解いただければと思います。
I hope you will understand our circumstances.
この仕事を山田さんにお願いできればと思っているんですが…。
I was thinking of asking Yamada to do this job, if that would be all right...
皆さんのご意見をお聞かせくださればと思います。
I would like to hear everyone's opinions.
スピーチコンテストで入賞できればと思って、がんばっています。
I'm working hard in the hope of winning a prize in the speech contest.
A：こちらのお部屋はいかがでしょうか。 B：そうですね。もう少し広ければと思うんですが…。
A: How about this room? B: Well... I was thinking it would be nice if it were a little bigger...
What people say in everyday speech
連絡してくれると嬉しい／連絡してね
The roundabout 「〜ばと思います」 pattern, which first sets up a condition and then softly states a hope, is a hallmark of business letters and formal spoken requests. With friends you would not go such a long way around; saying 「連絡してね」 or 「連絡してくれると助かる／嬉しい」 directly sounds natural. The closer the relationship, the more distant, even sarcastic, an ending like 「〜ばと思います」 sounds, and it is almost never used in ordinary chat.
For 「〜について・〜にとって・〜において・〜として・〜に関して」 and the like, the form 「〜まして」 is used when you want to speak formally. Besides 「〜としまして」, 「〜として」 can also take the more humble 「〜といたしまして」.
Connection N ＋ につきましては／にとりましても／におきまして／としまして・といたしまして
Examples
発売の時期につきましては、現在検討中でございます。
Regarding the release date, we are currently looking into it.
今回のプロジェクトは私にとりましても、貴重な経験になると思います。
This project will be a valuable experience for me as well.
本日1時より中央広場におきまして、抽選会を行います。
A prize drawing will be held in the central plaza starting at 1 o'clock today.
わが社といたしましては、今回の契約はぜひ進めたいと考えております。
As for our company, we would very much like to move forward with this contract.
What people say in everyday speech
について／は
「につきまして」 is a formal version of 「について」 with the polite ending 「〜まして」 added, used specifically in business emails, announcements and opening remarks (for example 「日程につきましては」「発売の時期につきましては」). In everyday speech, people almost always say 「について」 or just use 「は」, as in 「日程については後で」 or 「日程は後で」. No one says 「につきましては」 when chatting with friends; it would sound like reading from a script.