Please in Japanese
Please in Japanese is ください (kudasai) or お願いします (onegaishimasu), and both come after what you ask for. ください follows a thing, as in 水をください, water, please, or a verb in its te form, as in 待ってください, please wait; お願いします follows a thing or a service and sounds a little softer.
ください
- Romaji
- kudasai
- Meaning
- please
Polite and casual
| Form | Who and when |
|---|---|
| くださいkudasaiPolite | After a thing (水をください) or a verb in the te form (待ってください, please wait). |
| お願いしますonegaishimasuPolite | After a thing, a service or a favor: これをお願いします, this one, please. |
| お願いいたしますonegai itashimasuVery polite | Business emails, formal requests, staff speaking to customers. |
| お願いonegaiCasual | Please, to friends and family, for a favor. |
| ちょうだいchōdaiCasual | Give me, to family and close friends; children use it a lot. |
When to use it
To order or ask for a thing, both work: コーヒーをください and コーヒーをお願いします both mean a coffee, please. お願いします is the one for services: 駅までお願いします, to the station, please, in a taxi.
To ask someone to do something, put the verb in the te form and add ください: 見てください, please look. To soften a request, ask a question instead: 教えていただけますか, could you tell me?
When not to
A bare ください can sound like an instruction, which is why signs and teachers use it. To someone senior, ask with ていただけますか instead.
お願いします never follows a verb: 待ってください, not 待ってお願いします.
Examples
これをください。
Romaji: kore o kudasai.
This one, please.
ちょっと待ってください。
Reading: ちょっとまってください。
Romaji: chotto matte kudasai.
Please wait a moment.
お会計お願いします。
Reading: おかいけいおねがいします。
Romaji: okaikei onegaishimasu.
The check, please.
駅までお願いします。
Reading: えきまでおねがいします。
Romaji: eki made onegaishimasu.
To the station, please. (In a taxi.)
もう少しゆっくり話してください。
Reading: もうすこしゆっくりはなしてください。
Romaji: mō sukoshi yukkuri hanashite kudasai.
Please speak a little more slowly.
bunka · culture
In a restaurant you call the staff with and a raised hand, and ask for the check with . In many places you then pay at the register by the door, not at the table.
Common mistakes
- Putting ください first. It comes after what you ask for: 水をください, not ください水.
- Using a verb's dictionary form: 待つください is wrong; the te form makes it 待ってください.
- Using ください for a favor that is not a thing or an action: it is よろしくお願いします, never よろしくください.
Questions people ask
Say it out loud, with feedback
Knowing a phrase is not the same as saying it. In Naraio you practice phrases like these in short role plays with Hana, a tutor who listens, answers in natural Japanese and scores your pronunciation, and spaced reviews bring them back before they fade.