I can ask a coworker to do something simple and confirm a task: …、かしてください, …、かりてもいいですか, はい、…ですね.
How to ask for things at work
How to ask for things at work
At work, requests are short and polite. The main thing is to be understood.
A Japanese verb has a set request form, and ください is added to it. Don't build these phrases: learn them whole, like words. The ten most useful are in the table; note the endings て and で: まって, よんで.
You can name the thing first, with a pause: ホチキス、かしてください。 In a full sentence the thing takes を: メニューをみてください。
すみません at the start and ちょっと (“a little”) soften a request: すみません、ちょっとみてください。
If you need something only for a short time, ask more softly: …、かりてもいいですか。 This is a set phrase too.
When you're given a task, repeat the key point and add ですね: はい、はさみをみっつですね。 This tells the other person you've understood. ですか would sound like a real question, as if you hadn't heard. English confirms with a rising voice; Japanese confirms with ね.
Common mistakes:
• NOT まってをください → まってください: no を before ください.
• NOT かしますください → かしてください.
• NOT とりてください → とってください: learn the form whole.
• NOT かりてもいいですね → かりてもいいですか: it's a question.
• NOT ください、まって → まってください: ください comes last, unlike English “please”.
Ten set requests
You don't build these phrases; you learn them whole.
| Request | What it means |
|---|---|
| まってください | please wait |
| みてください | please look |
| かいてください | please write |
| いってください | please say |
| よんでください | please read |
| きてください | please come |
| かしてください | please lend me |
| おしえてください | please tell me, please teach me |
| とってください | please pass |
| でんわしてください | please call |
Three ways to ask for a thing
From top to bottom — from the most direct to the softest.
| How to say it | When |
|---|---|
| えんぴつ、ください | direct, like ordering in a café |
| えんぴつ、かしてください | a polite request to a coworker |
| えんぴつ、かりてもいいですか | the softest: “may I borrow it?” |
Lesson notes
How to ask for things at work
At work, requests are short and polite. The main thing is to be understood.
A Japanese verb has a set request form, and ください is added to it. Don't build these phrases: learn them whole, like words. The ten most useful are in the table; note the endings て and で: まって, よんで.
You can name the thing first, with a pause: ホチキス、かしてください。 In a full sentence the thing takes を: メニューをみてください。
すみません at the start and ちょっと (“a little”) soften a request: すみません、ちょっとみてください。
If you need something only for a short time, ask more softly: …、かりてもいいですか。 This is a set phrase too.
When you're given a task, repeat the key point and add ですね: はい、はさみをみっつですね。 This tells the other person you've understood. ですか would sound like a real question, as if you hadn't heard. English confirms with a rising voice; Japanese confirms with ね.
Common mistakes:
• NOT まってをください → まってください: no を before ください.
• NOT かしますください → かしてください.
• NOT とりてください → とってください: learn the form whole.
• NOT かりてもいいですね → かりてもいいですか: it's a question.
• NOT ください、まって → まってください: ください comes last, unlike English “please”.