～ていただく
humbly receive favor of action
～ていただく is the humble equivalent of ～てもらう. It is made by taking the て-form of a verb and adding いただく, and it means that you received the favor of someone doing something for you.
English has no exact match, so it usually comes out as “I had (someone) kindly do ...” or “(someone) kindly did ... for me”. The humble form shows respect toward the person who did the favor, such as a teacher, a customer, or a boss.
1. Reporting a favor you received
The person who did the favor is marked with に, and the verb describes what they did for you.
先生に書いていただきました。
“I had the teacher kindly write it.”
- 先生（せんせい）= teacher
- に = marks the person who did the favor
- 書いていただきました（かいていただきました）= (humbly) had (them) write it
2. Making very polite requests with ～ていただけますか
With the potential form いただける, the pattern becomes a very polite request: literally “could I receive the favor of you doing ...?”.
もう一度言っていただけますか。
“Could you please say that one more time?”
- もう一度（もういちど）= one more time
- 言っていただけますか（いっていただけますか）= could you kindly say (it)?
Unlike ～てください, which directly tells the listener what to do, ～ていただけますか frames the action as a favor you receive, which sounds much softer and more respectful.
How to form it
Verb て-form + いただく
- 書く（かく）= to write → 書いていただく（かいていただく）= have (someone) kindly write
- 教える（おしえる）= to teach → 教えていただく（おしえていただく）= have (someone) kindly teach
- 待つ（まつ）= to wait → 待っていただく（まっていただく）= have (someone) kindly wait
Key idea
～ていただく describes someone's action as a favor you humbly receive. Reach for it whenever the person doing the action deserves your respect.
Built on the same stem
Updated .