In this guide
I like having a few polite requests ready to use in Japanese. Asking for a glass of water is a small part of a day, but it’s satisfying to be able to say what you need and get on with your lunch. Asking someone to explain something again takes a little more thought: I want to be clear about what I need, while remembering that I’m asking for extra time and attention.
In English, we can use “please” in both of those requests. When you look for its Japanese equivalent, you’ll soon meet ください (kudasai) and お願いします (onegaishimasu), two common expressions used to make requests. Both can work when you’re ordering water, so there’s no need to begin by worrying that only one of them is right.
We’ll start with that simple order, then build requests for someone to do something and look at how to ask a favor more gently. I’ll show you which parts of a request you can change, so you can ask for what you need in your own situation.
Ask for an item with をください
For something you want to receive, put its name before をください. The little word を marks the item you’re asking for; here it’s pronounced o. 水 means “water,” so the whole request is straightforward:
水をください。
Water, please.
You can replace 水 with another item. メニュー means “menu,” and これ means “this,” which is handy when you can point to the thing you want.
メニューをください。
A menu, please.
これをください。
This one, please.
You can also put をお願いします after the item. お願いします presents it as something you’re asking the other person to arrange or provide. For an ordinary order such as water, both patterns work.
水をお願いします。
Water, please.
I’d learn both as complete patterns. You’ll hear both in everyday ordering, so there’s no need to treat one water request as a mistake. If you’d like to order two coffees or three cakes, the guide to Japanese counters shows where to put the quantity.
Two ways to order water
You’re ordering water at a café. Select both complete requests that can ask for the drink.
Which TWO requests work here?
Use お願いします for a service already understood
Sometimes the situation supplies the action. In a taxi, the driver already knows that you’re asking to be taken somewhere. Name the destination, add まで (“as far as” or “to”), then お願いします.
駅までお願いします。
To the station, please.
駅 means “station.” If you’re going to your hotel instead, replace the destination and keep the rest:
ホテルまでお願いします。
To the hotel, please.
The same reliance on the situation explains a useful short request after you miss what someone said. もういちど means “one more time.”
もういちど、お願いします。
One more time, please.
The listener understands what you want repeated. Next, we’ll build a fuller request using the verb “explain,” so you can ask for another explanation explicitly.
Give the taxi driver a destination
You’re in a taxi and want to go to the station. 駅 means “station.” Choose the request that gives it as your destination.
What do you say?
Join a verb to ください
When you use ください after a verb, the verb needs its te-form. This is a connecting form ending in て or で. You’ll use it to join the action to the request ending.
Start with 説明する, “to explain.” This is the form you’d look up in a dictionary. Change the final する to して, giving 説明して. Then add ください:
もういちど、説明してください。
Please explain it one more time.
The change is small but necessary: 説明して + ください. 説明するください leaves the verb in its dictionary form, so the pieces don’t connect correctly. You can keep もういちど at the front to say you want the explanation again.
Connect the action to the request
You want someone to explain the same thing again. 説明する means “to explain,” and its te-form is 説明して. Choose the correctly built request.
Repair: もういちど、説明するください。
Ask a favor with てもらえますか
Now keep the same 説明して and replace ください with もらえますか. The whole request works like “Could you … for me?” Asking it as a question gives the other person room to consider the favor.
もういちど、説明してもらえますか。
Could you explain it one more time?
I find this useful when I’m interrupting someone or asking them to spend extra time. The action stays clear, while the question makes the request less direct.
Here’s the same pattern with a different action. 開ける means “to open.” Remove its final る and add て to get 開けて, then add もらえますか. ドア means “door,” and を marks what you want opened.
ドアを開けてもらえますか。
Could you open the door for me?
Use the same connection in a favor question
Ask someone if they could open the window for you. 窓 means “window.” Use the te-form of 開ける, “to open.” Kanji or hiragana is fine.
窓を＿もらえますか。
Build a request with a new verb
You’ve now seen both endings for a verb request. To make one you haven’t memorized, start with the action you need and check that verb’s te-form. Once you have the connecting form, you can add the details and choose your request ending.
Suppose you want someone to write an address here. The verb is 書く, “to write.” Its te-form is 書いて: for this verb, the final く changes to いて. Keep the pair 書く → 書いて together when you learn it.
Next, say what you want written. 住所 means “address,” so 住所を gives the object of the action. ここに means “here,” giving the place to write it. Put those details before 書いてください:
ここに住所を書いてください。
Please write your address here.
This is a direct, polite request you might hear while filling in a form. If you were asking someone for a favor instead, the same pieces could end with 書いてもらえますか. The details of the action don’t need to change.
For an unfamiliar verb, look up its complete te-form in a dictionary or verb reference. A final る alone doesn’t tell you how a verb will change. Checking the form lets you use these request patterns while you gradually learn the other verb changes. If you’d like to build those forms yourself, the guide to the Japanese te-form explains the verb groups, ending changes and common exceptions.
Build a new writing request
You’re helping someone fill in a form. Ask them to write their name here. 名前 means “name,” ここに means “here,” and 書く means “to write.” Fill the gap with the te-form of 書く. Kanji or hiragana is fine.
ここに名前を＿ください。
Say what should be done, and how
The same method lets you request more than a bare action. For example, ゆっくり means “slowly.” 話す (“to speak”) becomes 話して. Put ゆっくり before the action:
ゆっくり話してください。
Please speak slowly.
For a reading request, 読む (“to read”) becomes 読んで. This time the connecting form ends in で; it still joins to ください in the same way. この漢字 means “this kanji,” so この漢字を tells the listener what to read.
この漢字を読んでください。
Please read this kanji.
I’d learn these as useful verb pairs: 話す → 話して and 読む → 読んで. Then you can keep the request ending while changing what someone reads or how they speak. You don’t have to work out every new request from memory.
Let the situation set the amount of softening
てください is polite, but it’s direct. That’s often perfectly suitable for an ordinary request within someone’s role, such as asking you to write your address on a form. For a request that changes someone else’s plans, a question and a brief reason can be more considerate.
Suppose you’ve arranged a lesson with a teacher, then discover that you have to work that day. その日は仕事です means “I have work that day.” 金曜日 means “Friday”; 金曜日に gives Friday as the new time. 変える (“change”) becomes 変えて.
すみません。その日は仕事です。金曜日に変えてもらえますか。
I’m sorry. I have work that day. Could you change it to Friday?
すみません acknowledges the inconvenience. The short reason explains why you’re asking, and Friday gives the teacher a concrete alternative to consider. The question helps, but the useful details do some of the work too.
金曜日に変えてください means “Please change it to Friday.” It’s grammatical and more direct. Use the question when you want the teacher to consider whether the change is possible. The error would be 変えるください: the verb needs the connecting form 変えて. Tone and verb formation are separate decisions.
With a close friend, you may need much less wording. For a large favor, even a polite ending can’t supply missing consideration for the other person’s time. My usual check is simple: does this person expect to help with this, and how much am I asking them to change?
Give the other person room to consider a change
You arranged a lesson with a teacher, but now have work that day. You want to suggest Friday, explain why and ask whether the teacher can accommodate the change. Which option best does all three?
その日は仕事です = I have work that day. 金曜日 = Friday.
Choose a pattern, then make it your own
Here are the four patterns together. Item requests overlap. For the two patterns built with a verb, use its te-form before the request ending.
| What you need | A useful pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|
| An item | Item + をください | 水をください。 |
| An item or an understood service | Item + をお願いします; destination + までお願いします | 水をお願いします。 / 駅までお願いします。 |
| Someone to act: polite and direct | Te-form + ください | ゆっくり話してください。 |
| Someone to consider a favor | Te-form + もらえますか | 窓を開けてもらえますか。 |
For your next request, choose what you want to ask for. If you’re using a verb, check its te-form and add any details the listener needs. Then think about the person and the size of the favor. That gives you something useful to say before you start worrying about the perfect level of politeness.
Write two requests you could actually use
Write one request for an item and one request asking someone to act. For the action request, choose a person and situation: a routine small request, another explanation or a change of plan. Use てください or てもらえますか to suit that situation.
Copy your Japanese text, then paste it into the checker. This writing space does not assess or save your text.
For grammar and spelling suggestions, copy one of your requests into the Bunpo Check grammar checker. Use the relationship and size of the favor to think through the tone.
About the author
B. Rungswell
B. Rungswell is the editor of the Bunpo Check blog and a native English speaker who has passed JLPT N1. Drawing on many years of life in Japan and experience working at Japanese companies, Rungswell writes practical guides to Japanese grammar for English-speaking learners.