This article describes the polite verb form, often called the -masu form.
The polite form of Japanese verbs is used in normal polite language. It is often used when talking with colleagues, teachers, doctors, people older than you, or people you do not know well.
Only the main verb of a sentence (the one at the end of the sentence) occurs in polite form.*
The polite endings are added to the stem of ichidan (ru-dropping) verbs, and to the stem ending in the “i” vowel sound of godan (u-dropping) verbs (see Verbs). They are as follows:
| -masu | polite present | Note: also used for the future |
| -masen | polite negative | Used, like -masu, for both present and future |
| -mashita | polite past | |
| -masen deshita | polite negative past |
Polite present
ときどき映画を見ます。
Tokidoki eiga o mimasu.
I sometimes watch movies.
Polite negative
たかはしさんは魚を食べません。
Takahashi san wa sakana o tabemasen.
Ms. Takahashi doesn’t eat fish.
Polite past
毎日漢字の勉強をしましたが、すぐ忘れました。
Mainichi kanji no benkyou o shimashita ga, sugu wasuremashita.
I studied kanji every day, but I soon forgot them.
Polite negative past
一時間待ましたが、友達は来ませんでした。
Ichi-jikan machimashita ga, tomodachi wa kimasen deshita.
I waited an hour, but my friend didn’t come.
If a sentence ends in the word “desu” or one of its forms, it is also a normal polite sentence. The other forms of “desu” are:
| negative | de wa** arimasen / ja arimasen |
| past | deshita |
| negative past | de wa** arimasen deshita / ja arimasen deshita |
*When two sentences are connected by a conjunction, such as ga (but), both may end in a polite form verb.
**In kana, this “wa” is written は.
This page is adapted from “Some Notes on Japanese Grammar” published for your personal use, with the kind permission of Keith Smillie (http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/~smillie/)
Related posts:
9:55 am on November 8th, 2010
ます、ますした、です、でした、ではありません、ではありませんでした、ません、ませんでした
2:19 am on June 11th, 2009
posted a question but figured it out dont know how to delete a post yet. sorries
3:32 pm on April 13th, 2009
um, is omou conjugated like
思います、思いません、思いました、思いませんでした ?? i’m not that sure… :p
5:13 am on March 23rd, 2009
In this lesson and in the lesson on the -tai form, the stem to which forms of “masu” and “tai” are added is called the “infinitive.” This is not defined anywhere that I can find, and it is a bad name, in my opinion, since it does not correspond at all to what is called the infinitive of a verb in English. I have seen it called the “noun form” in some texts– but in any case, we need to explain the different stems for godan verbs somewhere, and to define the stem of an ichidan verb.