How to Japanese Podcast · Daniel Morales

Episode 68 - いただき

·37 min·2 clips

Oshiete itadaki arigatou gozaimasu reaches 15.3 billion hits, five times more than oshiete kudasatte arigatou gozaimasu.

1. How to Japanese Episode 68 focuses on the word itadaki and its place in Japanese giving-and-receiving language. 2. Daniel Morales hosts the episode, identifies himself as the writer at howtojapanese.com, and says the newsletter is aimed at Japanese learners who want to sound more natural. 3. The episode asks listeners to “forget kudasai” and shift attention toward itadakuu, itadakimasu, and related forms. 4. Morales explains that kudasai is common for asking for items like omizu, biru, and ohashi, which makes it an early learner anchor. 5. He then reviews the four major giving-and-receiving groups he focuses on: kudasaru and kureru for gifts to the speaker, itadaku and morau for receiving, and ageru and sashi ageru for giving away from the speaker. 6. Morales says he searched combinations of these verbs with the te-form katte, including katte kureta, katte itadaita, katte moratta, and their polite past forms. 7. He summarizes the search results as a clear frequency hierarchy, with katte kureta at 25.3 million and katte kudasai mashita at 2.42 million. 8. He uses Jay Rubin’s Making Sense of Japanese to frame katte kureta as “they gave me the buying of something” and katte moratta as “I received the buying of something.” 9. Morales says these constructions matter mainly in two situations: explaining who got what, or thanking someone for doing something. 10. He presents oshiete kudasatte arigatou gozaimasu as the familiar default and oshiete itadaki arigatou gozaimasu as the form he is trying to adopt. 11. He cites Google results of 3.3 million for oshiete kudasatte arigatou gozaimasu and 15.3 billion for oshiete itadaki arigatou gozaimasu. 12. Morales says the itadaki version appears five times more common than the kudasatte version and links that to everyday Japanese usage. 13. He also points to a Google Trends graph that shows itadakite arigatou gozaimasu rising over the last 20 years. 14. Morales brings in sasete itadakimasu and explains it as a polished way to say “allow me to do something,” using sanka sasete itadakimasu as the example. 15. He suggests that this language may fit a broader rise in niju keigo, the stacking of honorific forms on one verb. 16. He closes the linguistic section with memorization examples such as go setsume itadaki arigatou gozaimasu, okoshi itadaki arigatou gozaimasu, and go shoukai itadaki arigatou gozaimasu. 17. The tone is reflective and tutorial-based, with Morales pausing often to explain literal wording versus natural English translation. 18. The format mixes newsletter commentary, search-based examples, practical phrases, and a short mnemonic involving Snoop Dogg’s “I want to thank me” speech. 19. Listeners who study Japanese honorifics and business email phrasing will get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners looking for light conversation or non-linguistic topics will probably skip it.

As heard by us

A clear, practical look at itadaki that turns one ending into usage, register, and everyday speech.

Episode 68 follows itadaki with steady, curious pacing that makes How to Japanese easy to track, even when a short ending carries more weight than it first seems.

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Why you'd press play

If one ending can open into itadakimasu, keigo, and beer, start here.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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