auxiliary N4 common politewritten kenjougo (humble)
ていただく — have someone do ~
ていただく
Meaning
- to (humbly) have someone do ~ for me / to receive the favor of someone's ~ing — the humble (謙譲語) benefactive built on もらう
Key sentence
先生に推薦状を書いていただきました。
I had my teacher write me a letter of recommendation.
Formation
| Attaches to | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| verb te-form | [me] が [benefactor] に [verb-て] + いただく | 道を教えていただく |
Examples
部長に資料を確認していただいた。
I had the department head check the documents.
ここで少々お待ちいただけますか。
Could you wait here for a moment?
丁寧に説明していただき、ありがとうございました。
Thank you for explaining so carefully.
When you can't use it
- The favor flows toward you/your in-group, and grammatically you are the one receiving (に marks the doer). It cannot describe a favor done for an unrelated third party — that stays at てもらう or shifts to てくださる/てあげる as the direction requires.
Easily confused with
てくださる Same event, mirror viewpoint: ていただく takes me (the receiver) as subject ('I had the teacher write…'); てくださる takes the giver as subject ('the teacher wrote… for me'). Both are keigo. てもらう ていただく is just the humble (keigo) version of てもらう — same 'have someone do for me' meaning, elevated. いただく いただく alone humbly receives a thing/object; ていただく (te-form + いただく) humbly receives an action/favor.
See ていただく in real sentences
Jengo shows ていただく the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.
Study it in JengoSources Compiled with reference to A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar.