interjection N5 common casualpolitewritten

どうぞ — please / go ahead / by all means

どうぞ

Meaning

please / go ahead / here you are — offering something or inviting someone to do as they wish

Key sentence

どうぞお入はいりください。

Please, come in.

Usage

Stands alone as an interjection — when handing something over (どうぞ = 'here you are'), granting permission (どうぞ = 'go ahead'), or warmly inviting/urging someone (どうぞよろしく).

Examples

「お先さきにどうぞ。」

"After you."

コーヒーをどうぞ。

Here, have some coffee.

どうぞご自由じゆうにお取とりください。

Please feel free to help yourself.

Easily confused with

どうかどうぞ offers or invites — it hands something over or grants permission, warmly. どうか pleads earnestly for something the speaker badly wants (どうか助たすけてください = 'please, I beg you, help me'); it carries urgency, not hospitality.

Notes

Don't confuse どうぞ with どうも, which means 'thanks,' 'somehow,' or serves as a vague all-purpose greeting. どうぞ offers or invites; どうも acknowledges.

See どうぞ in real sentences

Jengo shows どうぞ the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.

Study it in Jengo

Sources Compiled with reference to A Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar.

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