Offering help in japanese

letslearn · 8 Jan 2014

Hi guys,
When asking for help with say grammar you can use.

これは文法をお教えてくれませんか

How would you offer your help to someone in that case.

For example if I wanted to say in English.

In regards to English is there anything I can help you with?

Would it be like

英語に関して何でも手伝いますか

よろしくお願いします

Morphling · 8 Jan 2014

Hmmm I usually side on more polite side when it comes to favors.

教えてくれませんか can be dicey.

この文法の意味と用法を教えていただけませんか。

When offering help, Japanese tend to be pretty vague.

英語についてご質問がありましたら、ご遠慮なく（私に）聞いてください。

If you want to help to carry your boss's luggage you will say something like

お荷物、お持ちしましょうか。
Let me carry that luggage for you perhaps?

You can't say

お荷物、私に持って欲しいですか。
Which literally means do you want me to carry that luggage for you. Which is fine in English but big no no in Japanese.

Basically you just have to beat around the bush with Japanese when it comes to favors.

LewiiG · 8 Jan 2014

letslearn said:
Hi guys,
When asking for help with say grammar you can use.
これは文法をお教えてくれませんか

I'm sure it would rather be something like この文法について教えてくれませんか or この文法の使い方を教えてくれませんか etc. Not sure if typo but there is no お prefix to 教える and if there was I'm sure it only applies to verb stems/nouns.

Don't trust myself enough to answer anything else xD

Edit: Beat by Morphling and became irrelevant xD

letslearn · 8 Jan 2014

Wow!
英語についてご質問がありましたら、ご遠慮なく（私に）聞いてください is a mouthful. Could you drop the ご遠慮なく（私に）part in less formal situations or would you leave it?
Yes the お教えて extra お was a typo , sorry.

What is the difference between using に関して or について?

Morphling · 8 Jan 2014

関する is more written than spoken.

Well if you are buddies, you can certainly shorten it.

英語についての質問があれば、どんどん聞いてね。

With favors you really need to specify your position relative to your listener. It would dramatically change how you would express it in Japanese.

letslearn · 8 Jan 2014

Thanks a lot guys much appreciated

Toritoribe · 8 Jan 2014

英語について何か質問はありませんか also can work.

LewiiG said:
Not sure if typo but there is no お prefix to 教える and if there was I'm sure it only applies to verb stems/nouns.

That's right. A polite prefix お can't be used with verbs. However, お教えくださいませんか is corrct, since this 教え is a noun (noun usage of the -pre masu form). Probably the OP confused 教えて and お教え. Furthermore, confusingly, お教えくれませんか is inappropriate, since the level of politeness are different between お教え and くれる.
In conclusion;
○教えてくれませんか
お教えてくれませんか
○教えてくださいませんか
お教えくれませんか
○お教えくださいませんか

○立ってください
○お立ちください
お立ってください
(Probably this example is easier to understand.)

letslearn · 8 Jan 2014

Toritoribe said:
英語について何か質問はありませんか also can work.

That's right. A polite prefix お can't be used with verbs. However, お教えくださいませんか is corrct, since this 教え is a noun (noun usage of the -pre masu form). Probably the OP confused 教えて and お教え. Furthermore, confusingly, お教えくれませんか is inappropriate, since the level of politeness are different between お教え and くれる.
In conclusion;
○教えてくれませんか
お教えてくれませんか
○教えてくださいませんか
お教えくれませんか
○お教えくださいませんか

○立ってください
○お立ちください
お立ってください
(Probably this example is easier to understand.)

does this mean that お教えくれませんか is incorrect (because it should be くださいませんか) however 教えくれませんか is correct?

Toritoribe · 8 Jan 2014

Oh, sorry. My explanation is wrong.. I should have written "お教えくれませんか is incorrect, since くれる is attached only with the -te form". Sorry again!

Morphling · 8 Jan 2014

Pretty sure the お in お教えてくれませんか is a 変換ミス. The OP wasn't intending to use honorifics. Just hit too many おs.

LewiiG · 12 Jan 2014

Can you use お + verb stem with any verb? I'm sure you don't use it with any noun or is it just an honourific thing to add freely?

Toritoribe · 13 Jan 2014

"お + the -masu stem of a verb + する"(e.g. お教えする) is a humble expression, and "お + -masu stem + になる"(e.g. お教えになる) is an honorific. In these expressions, お can be attached to the -masu stem more broadly than just the noun usage of it.

Morphling · 13 Jan 2014

Better not to delve too deep into honorifics. Can do your head in.

In general there are 2 honorifics headers, ご and お. ご is used for sino Japanese words. ご帰国なさる and お is used for Japanese words. お帰りになる.

Also there are some commonly used verbs that become completely different words in honorific or humble form. 見るご覧になる拝見いたす etc.

LewiiG · 15 Jan 2014

Toritoribe said:
"お + the -masu stem of a verb + する"(e.g. お教えする) is a humble expression, and "お + -masu stem + になる"(e.g. お教えになる) is an honorific. In these expressions, お can be attached to the -masu stem more broadly than just the noun usage of it.

Morphling said:
Better not to delve too deep into honorifics. Can do your head in.

In general there are 2 honorifics headers, ご and お. ご is used for sino Japanese words. ご帰国なさる and お is used for Japanese words. お帰りになる.

Also there are some commonly used verbs that become completely different words in honorific or humble form. 見るご覧になる拝見いたす etc.

Ah right I see. For some reason I assumed that that お only worked with certain nouns and certain verbs but it seems that it's pretty much just certain nouns not certain verbs. Good things to know. Thank you both for the knowledge!

Morphling · 15 Jan 2014

LewiiG said:
Ah right I see. For some reason I assumed that that お only worked with certain nouns and certain verbs but it seems that it's pretty much just certain nouns not certain verbs. Good things to know. Thank you both for the knowledge!

That's still not quite right. お works with Japanese nouns and verbs where as ご works with Sino Japanese nouns and verbs.

The division isn't on nouns or verbs, it's on word origin.

お手紙、お荷物
ご旅行、ご理解

Again as with Japanese exceptions a plenty so you'll just have to remember one by one. E.g. お茶, ごゆっくり.

LewiiG · 17 Jan 2014

Morphling said:
That's still not quite right. お works with Japanese nouns and verbs where as ご works with Sino Japanese nouns and verbs.
The division isn't on nouns or verbs, it's on word origin.
お手紙、お荷物
ご旅行、ご理解
Again as with Japanese exceptions a plenty so you'll just have to remember one by one. E.g. お茶, ごゆっくり.

Ahh, yeah, I recognize which words to use お or ご for and why but when I said お can be used for...etc I just meant お. I wasn't thinking about ご at all. It didn't come to mind. Basically I originally thought that お (and now ご) was actually limited in what verb stems you could attatch them to. I thought something like お教え was invalid because only "certain" verbs can use honourifics. Absolutely no idea why I thought that. Probably because you can't attach ご or お to any noun freely, can you? Or is it all just freestyle and you can do whatever you want to get the right level of politeness?
This is why I asked my original question.
Never noticed those exceptions, interesting.

Morphling · 17 Jan 2014

In general you can add 御 to most verbs, nouns and adjectives. That's the rule so it is freestyle.

However there are exceptions.
For verbs, certain verbs have preset verbs for its honorific form. You can't use お見になる, it has to be ご覧になる. お食べになる is also wrong. It must be 召し上がる. Likewise for humble. 拝見する、いただく respectively.

For certain nouns, 御 has to be added but does not make it honorific. Merely 美化語. Beautified words that doesn't carry politeness at all.

お茶、お酒、お肉、お寿司

As you learn about honorifics, you will also find that MOST words in native Japanese also have Sino Japanese equivalent even for basic concepts.

お名前、ご氏名
お知らせ、ご通知
お勤め、ご勤務
お許し、ご許可
お心遣い、ご配慮

LewiiG · 19 Jan 2014

Morphling said:
In general you can add 御 to most verbs, nouns and adjectives. That's the rule so it is freestyle.

However there are exceptions.
For verbs, certain verbs have preset verbs for its honorific form. You can't use お見になる, it has to be ご覧になる. お食べになる is also wrong. It must be 召し上がる. Likewise for humble. 拝見する、いただく respectively.

For certain nouns, 御 has to be added but does not make it honorific. Merely 美化語. Beautified words that doesn't carry politeness at all.

お茶、お酒、お肉、お寿司

As you learn about honorifics, you will also find that MOST words in native Japanese also have Sino Japanese equivalent even for basic concepts.

お名前、ご氏名
お知らせ、ご通知
お勤め、ご勤務
お許し、ご許可
お心遣い、ご配慮

I see. That was quite the revelation. All very interesting. Thanks for the information and clarification Morphling

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