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Just to avoid repeatedly saying いただきました too much, can I occasionally switch it
with 下さりました or 下さいました?
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2011-06-02T10:33:40.843
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question
grammar politeness て-form perspective
Is it ok to use ～て下さりました instead of ～ていただきました?
いただきました is past tense of いただく, which is a polite version of もらう, which means
'to receive'.

下さいました is past tense of 下さる, which is a polite version of くれる, which means 'to
give'.

They are different words but can be used in the same context as long as you
correctly assign who is the giver and who is the receiver. But do take note
that the emphasis of the sentence and the particles used may change if use one
over the other. Example:

> これは先生からいただきました。  
>  This was received from Teacher.
>
> これは先生がくださいました。  
>  Teacher gave (me) this.

Note: In general, くれる is only used when the giver is the third person (neither
the speaker nor the person he/she is speaking to) or if the giver is second
person and the receiver is first person. If the giver is first or second
person, あげる should be used. Or another way to see it, くれる is used when the
giver is out-group, and あげる is used if the giver is in-group. Maybe it's
easier to see from a diagram:

![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/YwXTq.png)

Note: the receiver always uses もらう or its variants.
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2011-06-02T10:38:18.553
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2011-06-02T11:29:35.010
2011-06-02T11:29:35.010
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answer
Lukman already gave a nice answer, but let me add some comments in the context
of the question.

The question is about ～ていただきました and ～てくださいました, two different methods of making
敬語 out of other verbs. While strictly speaking Lukman’s answer focuses on the
basic use of いただきました and くださいました as receiving and giving physical items, the
same explanation also applies to ～ていただきました and ～てくださいました. In short, they are
_not_ interchangeable unless you change the other part of the sentence
suitably.

For example, a master of ceremony can introduce a speaker before a speech as
“Today we have Prof. Tanaka from Kyoto University (as a speaker)”:

>   * (correct and appropriate) [今日]{きょう}は[京都大学]{きょうとだいがく}の[田中先生]{たなかせんせい}
> **に** [来]{き}て **いただき** ました。
>   * (incorrect) [今日]{きょう}は[京都大学]{きょうとだいがく}の[田中先生]{たなかせんせい} **に** [来]{き}て
> **ください** ました。
>   * (correct, but see below) [今日]{きょう}は[京都大学]{きょうとだいがく}の[田中先生]{たなかせんせい}
> **が** [来]{き}て **ください** ました。
>

The first sentence does not have a subject, but the implicit subject would be
someone who “received” the visit, in other words, “us.” The second sentence is
incorrect. The third sentence has subject 田中先生 and is correct.

However, as a separate issue, some people may find the third sentence _not_
appropriate, because it is usually more polite to avoid using a person to be
respected as a grammatical subject of a sentence.
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answer