VocabularyJLPT N5 · core

どうぞ

どうぞ
hepburn douzo

please (offering, urging)

Part of speech · expression

Pattern visualization

no decomposition available

Examples

  1. どうぞ、お入りください。
    Please come in.
  2. お茶をどうぞ。
    Please have some tea.

Collocations

どうぞ (douzo, "please" — offering)どうも (doumo, "thanks / hello" — multi-purpose)お願いします (onegaishimasu, "please" — requesting)どうぞよろしく (douzo yoroshiku, "please look after this")ご遠慮なくどうぞ (goenryo naku douzo, "without restraint, please")

Mnemonic

どうぞ douzo — a multi-purpose adverb of offering/yielding. Resists direct translation: "please", "go ahead", "feel free", "by all means" each capture only a slice. Core sense: "this/the situation is yours to take freely" — a yielding gesture. Visually paired with どうも (doumo) but functionally distinct: どうぞ = offering/yielding; どうも = thanks/multipurpose greeting. The Korean eoseoyo, Chinese 请·随便, and English "please/go ahead" each map onto it partially. Hard for learners yet among Japan's most frequent everyday adverbs.

Quick check

  1. Core meaning difference between どうぞ and どうも?

Listed inJLPT N5 · core
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