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N3

Honorific Language in Reading

Read honorific language accurately so you can track respect, status, and subject reference in formal text.

Recognize common honorific verbs and patterns in announcements, interviews, and business writing.Identify who is being respected in the sentence.Distinguish honorific language from humble language in context.
Guided study

Common honorific verbs

Honorific language raises the status of the other person or the subject being respected. In reading, common honorific verbs include いらっしゃる, おっしゃる, 召し上がる, ご覧になる, and なさる.

社長はすでに会場にいらっしゃいました。

The company president had already arrived at the venue.

Honorific for 来る / いる / 行く.

先生がおっしゃったことをメモしてください。

Please write down what the teacher said.

Honorific for 言う.

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