Grammar Point

お~になる

to do ...

as お + masu stem + になる, or ご + noun + になる

+ Verb ます stem + になる

This is a respectful honorific construction used to describe the actions or states of someone the speaker wishes to show respect to, such as a superior, a customer, or an elder. It is more polite than standard polite forms.

This pattern is used with most native Japanese verbs. You take the ます stem of the verb, prefix it with , and follow it with になる.


The teacher has returned home.

What will you drink?

Note

This construction cannot be used for the speaker's own actions. It is also not used with single-syllable verbs like 見る (to see) or 寝る (to sleep). Some verbs have special honorific forms (like いらっしゃる for 行く) which are generally preferred over this construction.

+ Noun + になる

This construction is used for verbs derived from Chinese characters (Sino-Japanese words), typically those that end in する.

For verbs consisting of a noun plus する, the prefix is added to the noun, followed by になる. The する is dropped.


The president is worried.

Please make use of this.

Note

Similar to the version, this is used only for the actions of others. Some nouns that are very common in daily life may use instead of , but is the standard for most compound nouns.



Radicals of radicals