Lesson 9: Polite conjugations
Well, I don't feel I can go any further through this guide without without introducing you to the polite forms of verbs. As you may know, politeness is a fully grammaticalized feature of Japanese verbs. This lesson will teach you how to form the basic polite form, and give you a little bit of information on when to use it.
Forming polite verbs
The copula
The copula conforms to the following paradigm
Code: Select all
AFF NEG
です では/じゃありません
nonpast desu dewa/ja arimasen
では/じゃないです
dewa/ja nai desu
でした ではありませんでした
past deshita dewa arimasen deshita
では/じゃなかったです
dewa/ja nakatta desu
Standard verbs
As always, you must first remove the –ru from ru-dropping verbs, and the –u from u-dropping verbs to get the stem. Here, you will add the suffix –(i)màsu, the (i) of course being left out for ru-dropping verbs:
見る mìru: mi- + -(i)màsu = mimàsu 見ます
食べる tabèru: tabe- + -(i)màsu = tabemàsu 食べます
入る hàiru: hair- + -(i)màsu = hairimàsu 入ります
歩く arùku: aruk- + -(i)màsu = arukimàsu 歩きます
The two irregular verbs work as follows:
する suru: shimàsu します
来る kùru: kimàsu 来ます
the past is -mashita
the negative is either -masen or -nai desu
the past negative is either -masen deshita or -nakatta desu
Code: Select all
AFF NEG
nonpast ~ます ~ません
-masu -masen
~ないです
-nai desu
past ~ました ~ませんでした
-mashita -masen deshita
~なかったです
-nakatta desu
For those paying attention to the accent, you’ll notice that –màsu always takes the downstep, so polite forms are relatively easy, accent-wise. Unlike masu, desu has a flat pitch.
Nominal adjectives
Nominal adjectives simply replace the plain copula with its polite form.
静かだ
shìzuka da → 静かです
shìzuka desu "(it) is quiet"
簡単だった
kantan datta → 簡単でした
kantan deshita "(it was) simple/easy"
Verbal adjectives
Though verbal adjectives are really a type of verb and thus do not require a copula to be grammatically complete, they are heavily restricted in terms of compounding and so on, meaning that they have no way of becoming polite. As such, they employ their normal forms with desu simply tacked onto the end.
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AFF NEG
nonpast ~いです ~くないです
-i desu -ku nai desu
past ~かったです ~くなかったです
-katta desu –ku nakatta desu
This is simplest. Just add “desu” on the end of everything and it becomes polite. Remember that desu is
not functioning as a copula here; it is only here to change the level of politeness. This means that
no other form of the copula other than desu can appear in this position.
Notes on verbs
You likely noticed that the polite negative has two forms for standard verbs and the copula. One of them is directly conjugating
–masu in the negative, while the other one is following the verbal adjective pattern (since
nai is a verbal adjective) by simply adding
desu on the end. The forms using
–masen and
–masen deshita are slightly more formal than
–nai desu and
–nakatta desu and the clearer the position of authority of the listener above the speaker, the more likely the
-masen forms are to be used. It's not really important for a beginner though, so you should just take note that either form can occur.
Relative clauses
You saw before that you could place the copula or a verbal adjective in front of a noun in order to make a relative clause. The same is true for verbs. Unlike だ (which, as you know, changes to な for its attributive form), modern Japanese has no attributive form for verbs, so you can just place them in front of a noun.
歩く人
arùku hito people who walk
買った切手
katta kitte the stamp (I) bought
Relative clauses are always in the base form. You can never put them in polite form. Polite conjugations are generally only seen in the final verb of a sentence.
Vocabulary
いる and ある
I taught you ある
àru already as a locative verb. The truth is that it is only used for inanimate subjects. For animate subjects, you use いる
iru. いる is an entirely regular ru-dropping verb.
Notes on particles
Most of the time, に is used in place of へ. I taught へ since it is a basic one that appears from time to time, but you will mainly see に.
まで made This means “as far as” but it is used more frequently than its English counterpart, particularly whenever an endpoint could theoretically extend past wherever it is in reality.
で de We encountered this one in the previous lesson. As a particle, it has two distinct meanings: instrumental and locative.
However, the two locative verbs いる
iru and ある
àru cannot take で as a locative, and instead use に.
学校で読む。
Gakkō de yòmu.
(He) reads (it) at school.
学校に いる.
Gakkō ni iru.
(He) is at school.
Vocabulary for this lesson
先生 sensèi – teacher
学生 gakusei – student
教室 kyōshitsu – classroom
文章 bùnshō - sentence; writing; passage; essay
英語 eigo – English
数学 sūgaku - mathematics
教科書 kyōkàsho - textbook
事/こと kotò - subject; topic; matter; affair
隣 tonari - side; area next to (i.e. noun form of "beside")
習う naràu – to study; to practice; to learn
聞く kiku - to listen; to ask
教える oshieru - to teach
座る suwaru - to sit
いる iru - to be (somewhere); to exist (somewhere)
簡単 kantan - simple; easy
ちゃんと chanto - properly; as expected; as one ought to
~たち -tachi - plural animate suffix
Exercise:
make these verbs polite:
来る (くる)
切る (きる) (u)
言う (いう)
見る (みる)
する
話す (はなす)
並ぶ (ならぶ)
Translate the following:
学校で英語を習いました。
郵便局で聞きました。
学生たちが先生の言うことをちゃんと聞きます。
池の隣で英語を習います。
Translate the following, using the polite form:
The students entered the large classroom.
The students are in the classroom.
The textbooks are in the classroom.
The students sat down.
The teacher taught math to them in the classroom.
The students wrote sentences in their textbooks.
This small town is old.