いたしますitashimasu“the humble form of do”

いたします is the humble version of します. You use it for your own actions (or your company’s, your family’s) when you speak to a customer, a client, a teacher, or anyone you need to show respect to. By lowering yourself, you show deference to the listener. It is a JLPT N4 keigo form, and it appears in almost every business email and shop announcement in Japan.

The one rule that matters most: いたします lowers the speaker’s side. It never describes what the listener or a respected person does. For their actions you need the honorific なさいます.

いたします is “I do” said with a bow. なさいます is “you do” said with a bow. Swap them and you insult yourself or the customer.

What does いたします mean?

いたします (dictionary form いたす, often written 致します in formal writing) replaces する when you describe something you do. It carries no extra meaning. 確認します and 確認いたします both mean “I’ll check”; the second one tells the listener that you are placing yourself below them.

Who counts as “you” is wider than it looks. In keigo, your in-group is lowered together with you. When a receptionist says 担当の者がご説明いたします (the person in charge will explain), the colleague is lowered even if they are senior in the company. The customer outside the group is the one being respected.

いたします is almost always used with ます. Plain いたす is rare in conversation; you meet it in fixed written phrases and old-fashioned speech. So in practice, learn いたします, いたしました, いたしません, and いたしましょうか.

How to form いたします

There are three ways to build it. The first two are the ones you will use every day.

When do you add ご or お? Use the お／ご version when your action is done for or toward the listener: explaining to them (ご説明), contacting them (ご連絡), waiting for them (お待ち). Without that direction, plain noun + いたします is normal: 確認いたします, 失礼いたします, 出発いたします (we will depart). Sino-Japanese nouns take ご; native verbs take お. A few everyday words break the rule, the most common being お電話いたします.

When is いたします used?

Customer service. Shop staff, hotel staff, and call centres use いたします for everything they do: お調(しら)べいたします (I’ll look into it), ご案内(あんない)いたします (I’ll show you the way).

Business emails and meetings. よろしくお願いいたします closes almost every work email. 承知いたしました (understood) is the standard reply to a request from a client or boss.

Entering and leaving rooms. 失礼いたします when you knock on an office door, and again when you leave. This is the humble version of 失礼します, used in job interviews and when visiting a teacher.

Announcements. Trains, airports, and department stores use lines like お知らせいたします (we would like to inform you) and まもなく閉店(へいてん)いたします (we will be closing shortly).

Customers talking about themselves. Keigo is not only for staff. A customer ordering politely can say コーヒーにいたします (I’ll have coffee), lowering their own choice while the waiter respects it with 何になさいますか.

In casual conversation with friends or family, いたします sounds stiff or joking. Stick to します there.

いたします example sentences

Example 3 is the one learners find strange: the manager is not called 田中部長 or 田中さん, and his action takes humble いたします. To an outside customer, the whole company is “our side.” Example 5 shows both directions in one exchange: the server raises the customer’s choice with なさいます, and the customer lowers their own with いたします.

Nuance of いたします

Japanese grammar books split humble language into two types, and いたします sits in an interesting place.

お〜する／ご〜する lowers you in relation to the person your action is for. ご説明する means “I explain (to you, whom I respect).” It needs someone on the receiving end.

いたします on its own is courteous toward the listener, not toward anyone in the action. An announcement like まもなく出発いたします (we will be departing shortly) has no one receiving the action; it simply sounds polite to the passengers listening.

ご〜いたします combines both, which is why ご説明いたします and お待ちいたします sound more polite than ご説明します and お待ちします. For service staff it is the default.

💡 Quick test: ask “whose action is this?” If it is yours or your group’s, いたします is available. If it belongs to the customer, your boss (when talking to your boss), or a teacher, it must be なさいます or another honorific.

いたします vs なさいます

Both are keigo versions of する, and both end in ます, so learners often grab the wrong one. The difference is whose action it is.

A useful pairing: the question uses なさいます and the answer uses いたします. どうなさいますか。— こちらにいたします。 (What will you do? — I’ll take this one.) Compared with plain します, both are more formal; します is correct everywhere but carries no extra respect.

Common mistakes with いたします

Is いたします on the JLPT?

Expect a keigo-choice question: a shop dialogue with a blank for the clerk’s own action, and options like なさいます, いたします, いらっしゃいます, and おります. Identify whose action it is first; the humble option wins when it is the clerk. Reading passages often contain short emails ending in よろしくお願いいたします.

Practice questions for いたします

Learning path for いたします

Related grammar to review next

• なさる — the honorific する for other people’s actions; the direct opposite of いたします.
• お〜になる — the general honorific pattern, the mirror image of ご〜いたします.
• ございます — the courteous ある／です that shares いたします’s shop-and-office register.
• いらっしゃる — honorific いる・行く・来る, often heard in the same customer dialogues.
• させてください — another way to present your own action humbly, by asking permission to do it.

Learn いたします with Hane

Hane quizzes you on who is doing each action, so choosing between いたします and なさいます becomes automatic. Practise いたします in Hane.