いただきます (itadakimasu) is a phrase said before eating, commonly translated “thank you for the meal.” It comes from いただく, a humble verb meaning to receive and also to eat or drink. Its nuance includes receiving the food; practices and explanations vary by household.
forms itadaku / 頂きます / ごちそうさま
I receive · thank you for the meal
Sentences
いただきます · the set phrase
polite、。
Hover, tap, or tab through the words.
じゃあ
じゃあ
right then; well then
conjunction · casual それでは, marking the move to eating
Ask Rikai
いただきます
いただきます
thank you for the meal
polite form of いただく · literally 'I humbly receive'
Ask Rikai
Right — thanks for the food.
〜をいただきます · the verb doing its job
polite。
Hover, tap, or tab through the words.
では
では
in that case
conjunction · the formal それでは, shortened
Ask Rikai
コーヒー
コーヒー ［3］
coffee
noun · katakana, from Dutch koffie
Ask Rikai
を
を
marks the direct object
particle · pronounced お
Ask Rikai
いただきます
いただきます
I'll have
polite いただく · humble, and the standard way to accept an offer
Ask Rikai
Then I'll have a coffee, please.
お先にいただきます · starting first
polite。
Hover, tap, or tab through the words.
お先に
おさきに
ahead of you; first
set phrase · acknowledges that you are going before someone
Ask Rikai
いただきます
いただきます
I'll start eating
polite いただく · the お先に is what makes it an apology as well
Ask Rikai
Sorry — I'll start before you.
いただきました · the past
polite past、。。
Hover, tap, or tab through the words.
お手紙
おてがみ
your letter
noun · the お is respect for the sender, not for the paper
Ask Rikai
いただきました
いただきました
received
past polite of いただく · an ordinary ます-verb, inflecting normally
Ask Rikai
ありがとう
ありがとう
thank you
set phrase · ありがとうございます is the polite full form
Ask Rikai
Thank you, I received your letter.
〜ていただく · the humble request
polite past。
Hover, tap, or tab through the words.
先生
せんせい ［3］
teacher
noun · also a title, and used for doctors and lawyers too
Ask Rikai
に
に
to; at; into
particle · a point something reaches — a place, a time, a person, or a state
Ask Rikai
教えて
おしえて
teach — て-form
て-form of 教える · joins to いただく to make it a favour received
Ask Rikai
いただきました
いただきました
had someone do — humbly
past polite いただく · marks it as a favour done for the speaker
Ask Rikai
The teacher was kind enough to teach me.
ごちそうさま · the other half
polite past。。
Hover, tap, or tab through the words.
おいしかった
おいしかった
was delicious
past of おいしい · the い becomes かった
Ask Rikai
です
です
polite ending
copula · sits after the past form unchanged
Ask Rikai
ごちそうさま
ごちそうさま
thank you for the meal
set phrase · closes the meal; ご馳走 is the running-about it took
Ask Rikai
でした
でした
was — polite past
past copula · makes the closing phrase properly polite
Ask Rikai
That was lovely — thank you for the meal.
Forms
いただきます
The set phrase, hands together or not depending on the household. Said once, at the start, and it needs no object — the meal is understood.
Noun ＋ を＋いただきます
The verb doing ordinary work: コーヒーをいただきます I'll have a coffee. Humble, and the polite way to accept something offered.
いただき＋ました
The past: I received, I had. お手紙いただきました, I got your letter. Note it is a regular ます verb and inflects like one.
Verb て-form＋いただく
Having someone do something for you, humbly: 教えていただきました. This is the frame most business Japanese is built out of.
Meaning
It is not a grace. There is no addressee and no deity in the sentence — the verb simply says I humbly receive, and what is being thanked is diffuse: the cook, the people who grew and carried the food, and in the usual explanation the life of what is on the plate. Hands pressed together is a common gesture and not a required one.
いただく is a humble verb, which is a claim about you. It lowers the speaker rather than raising the listener, which is how Japanese marks respect from below. That is why it works for receiving a gift, a business card and a meal with no change of meaning — you are the one going down in each case.
It pairs with ごちそうさまでした. One opens the meal, the other closes it, and skipping the second is more noticeable than skipping the first. ご馳走 means running about — the word credits the effort of assembling a meal, back when that meant riding around for the ingredients.
Alone at home, people still say it. Not universally, and not always out loud, but the phrase is not reserved for company. In a restaurant you say it to yourself or your table rather than to the staff, and if someone has paid, it is said to them.
Inside the word
The character means the top of something — 山頂 a mountain summit, 頂上 the peak. The verb comes from the gesture: you raised what you were given to the crown of your head, above your own face, to show it came from someone higher than you.
Japanese has two directions of respect. 召し上がる raises the other person; いただく lowers you. They are not interchangeable — telling a guest いただいてください asks them to humble themselves, which is the wrong way round. The word you want there is 召し上がってください.
頂く is ［0］ in the accent table, but いただきます is an inflected polite form and has no entry of its own. The accent of a ます form is not the accent of the dictionary form, so this page leaves the number off rather than deriving one.
Watch out
There is no addressee in the sentence and no religious content required. It is a verb meaning I humbly receive. Plenty of people press their hands together while saying it and plenty do not, and neither reading of the gesture is the official one.
It asks them to be humble about your food. いただく lowers the speaker, so it can only describe your own receiving. Offering food to someone else takes the honorific: 召し上がってください, or plainly どうぞ.
ごちそうさまでした at the end is if anything more expected than いただきます at the start, especially when someone cooked or paid. Leaving without it reads as leaving without saying thank you, because that is what it is.
Also asked
Literally I humbly receive — it is the polite form of the verb いただく, to receive. Before a meal it works as thanks for the food, but the verb is general: you use it for accepting a gift, a business card or a cup of tea as well.
No. It has no addressee and requires no religious content — the gratitude is diffuse, aimed at whoever cooked, whoever grew and carried the food, and commonly the life of what is on the plate. Pressing the hands together is a widespread habit rather than a rule.
Many people do, out loud or under their breath, and many do not. It is not reserved for company. In a restaurant it is said to yourself or your table rather than to the staff — and if someone else is paying, it is said to them.
ごちそうさまでした — the closing half of the pair. ご馳走 means running about, crediting the effort it once took to gather a meal. Skipping it is more noticeable than skipping いただきます.
Both mean to receive; いただく is the humble version, used when what you received came from someone above you. いただく also stands in for 食べる and 飲む, which もらう does not.
Usually in kana. The kanji 頂きます exists and is correct, and you will see it on menus and in careful writing, but the set phrase is normally left in hiragana.
References
Digital Daijisen, 頂く — Defines humble receiving and eating/drinking senses.
Nearby
That's the whole list. rikAI is an iPhone app and it isn't out yet.
See what rikAI does · How it works · All grammar points · Language concepts
