As mentioned in Lesson 9, polite speech is used in everyday interactions with people who are neither family nor close friends. Polite speech, at times, can also be spoken in a casual manner, but its purpose is to keep some form of distance/formality between the speaker and the listener(s).
In polite speech, the part of the sentence that changes the most is the predicate, which is at the end of the sentence. Remember, the predicate simply means the part of sentence that gives some information about the subject. As will once more be the case in this lesson, the predicate will be the copula. This is always the case when the copula is used in an independent clause—something that can stand alone as a sentence. Another characteristic of polite speech is that the verbal component—the predicate—is longer. There is a rule of thumb that the longer something is, the politer it is.Nouns ・Nihonjin 日本人 – Japanese person ・Chūgokujin 中国人 – Chinese person ・Taiwanjin 台湾人 – Taiwanese person ・O-isha-san お医者さん – Doctor ・Shōgakusei 小学生 – Elementary student ・Chūgakusei 中学生 – Junior high student ・Kōkōsei 高校生 – High school student ・Daigakusei 大学生 – College/university student ・Giin 議員 – Legislator ・Eiyū 英雄 – Hero ・Nisemono 偽物 – A fake ・Machigai 間違い - Mistake ・Jikan 時間 – Time ・Hebi 蛇 – Snake ・Sotsugyōshiki 卒業式 – Graduation ceremony ・Kaigō 会合 – Assembly ・Nyūsu ニュース – News ・Tero テロ – Terrorism ・Ōkami オオカミ – Wolf ・Uso 嘘 – Lie ・Mogi shiken 模擬試験 – Mock exam ・Yasumi 休み – Rest/absence/holiday Adverbs ・Sō そう – So ・Mō sugu もうすぐ – Soon Interjections ・Etto えっと – Uh/um ・Hai はい – Yes ・Iie いいえ – No | ・Goendama 五円玉 – five-yen coin ・Jōdan 冗談 – Joke ・Kiseki 奇跡 – Miracle ・Shokudō 食堂 – Diner ・Sensei 先生 – Teacher ・Jūmin 住民 – Resident ・O-hiru お昼 – Lunch ・Kōhii コーヒー – Coffee ・Onigiri お握り – Onigiri ・Saru 猿 – Monkey ・Hitori 1人 – One person ・Futari 2人 – Two people ・Otoko 男 – Man ・Otoko-no-ko 男の子 – Boy ・Keisatsukan 警察官 – Police officer ・Shūryōbi 終了日 – End date ・Nichiyōbi 日曜日 – Sunday ・Mokuyōbi 木曜日 – Thursday ・Kinō 昨日 – Yesterday ・Ashita/asu 明日 – Tomorrow Pronouns ・Watashi 私 – I ・Kare 彼 – He ・Kanojo 彼女 – She ・Kore これ – This ・Sore それ – That ・Are あれ – That (over there) ・Anoあの – That (over there) (adj.) ・Soko そこ – There ・Tanaka-san 田中さん – Mr./Ms. Tanaka ・Oda-san 小田さん – Mr./Ms. Oda ・Rii-san リーさん - Mr./Ms. Lee ・Kenta-kun 健太君 – Kenta-kun |
Polite Non-Past Form: Desu です
In polite speech, the non-past form of the copula is desu です. Just like da だ, desu です can stand for “will be,” “is,” and “are.” Below are examples of the basic noun-predicate sentence in polite speech: “X wa は Y desu です.”
Pronunciation Note: In Standard Japanese, the “u” in desu です is typically devoiced. It is still perceived as two morae but phonetically rendered as /de.s/. However, devoicing does not mean dropping the vowel altogether. The mouth is still articulated to form the sound. It’s simply not vocalized at that point. It is important to note that this phenomenon doesn’t occur much outside Eastern Japan. This means that you will hear speakers that fully articulate both “de” and “su.” Lastly, whenever something directly follows desu です, the /u/ becomes fully pronounced.
Present Tense
1. 彼女は台湾人です。
Kanojo wa Taiwanjin desu.
She is Taiwanese.
2. 私はアメリカ人です。
Watashi wa Amerikajin desu.
I’m an American.
3. 時間です。
Jikan desu.
It’s time.
4. えっと、日本人です。
Etto, Nihonjin desu.
Um, I’m Japanese.
Grammar Note: Remember that the subject is often omitted. This isn’t just for “it.” In fact, “I” is frequently not stated in a sentence, so long as it is contextually obvious.
5. あれは蛇ですよ。
Are wa hebi desu yo.
That is a snake.
Grammar Note: The particle yo よ is added to the end of a sentence to emphasize something you’re trying to bring to someone’s attention. It is implied that the listener doesn’t already know what you’re saying.
6. はい、そうです。
Hai, sō desu.
Yes, that’s right.
Grammar Note: Sō そう is an adverb, not a noun, which literally translates as "so." In English grammar, "so" as in "that is so," is in place of an adjective, but in all other instances of English grammar, it is apparent that it inherently behaves as an adverb (Ex. "This is so cool"). In Japanese, words don't change part of speech unless they're able to conjugate. In Japanese, adverbs are incapable of conjugating, just like nouns, which allows most adverbs and nouns to be followed by the copula verb in the same fashion.
Future Tense
7. 卒業式は明日です。
Sotsugyōshiki wa ashita desu.
Graduation is/will be tomorrow
8. 会合は明日です。
Kaigō wa ashita desu.
The assembly is/will be tomorrow.
9. 終了日は木曜日です。
Shūryōbi wa mokuyōbi desu.
The end date is/will be Thursday.
10. もうすぐです。
Mō sugu desu.
It’ll be soon.
Grammar Note: Mō sugu もうすぐ is also an adverb, but the grammar is still the same.
Grammar Note: Unlike with da だ, the polite form desu です is not usually omitted at the end of a sentence. This is because its purpose is to provide politeness.
Polite Past Tense: Deshita でした
The past tense form of desu です is deshita でした. As you can see, -TA appears once more.
Conjugation Recap
| Non-Past Tense | Past Tense |
| Desu です | Deshita でした |
11. 日本人は2人でした。
Nihonjin wa futari deshita.
There were two Japanese people.
12. 中国人は1人でした。
Chūgokujin wa hitori deshita.
There was one Chinese person.
13. あの男は警察官でした。
Ano otoko wa keisatsukan deshita.
That man was a policeman.
Grammar Note: Ano あの is the attributive form of are あれ.
14. ニュースでした。
Nyūsu deshita.
This has been the news.
Grammar Note: In Japanese, the past tense form also extends to perfect tenses (completion).
15. あれはテロでした。
Are wa tero deshita.
That was terrorism.
16. あの子は男の子でした。
Ano ko wa otoko-no-ko deshita.
That child was a boy.
Variation Note: Some speakers use datta desu だったです instead of deshita でした, but this is deemed incorrect by most native speakers. As such, it is best to always use deshita でした but understand what people mean when they use datta desu だったです instead.
Polite Negative 1: De wa nai desu ではないです
To make the copula negative in polite speech, you have two options at your disposal. The path you take determines how formal you are. The first method takes the least amount of effort, which is adding desu です to [de wa/ja] nai 【では・じゃ】ない. This method is typically avoided in more formal, serious situations, but it is very common in conversation. With the contraction ja じゃ also being most common in speech, you will hear ja nai desu じゃないです a lot.
Conjugation Recap
| Non-Past Tense | Past Tense | Negative 1 |
| Desu です | Deshita でした | De wa nai desu ではないです Ja nai desu じゃないです |
17. 私は中学生ではないです。
Watashi wa chūgakusei de wa nai desu.
I am not a junior high student.
18. 彼女はお医者さんではないです。
Kanojo wa o-isha-san de wa nai desu.
She is not a doctor.
19. 彼は高校生ではないです。
Kare wa kōkōsei de wa nai desu.
He is not a high school student.
20. 健太君は小学生じゃないです。
Kenta-kun wa shōgakusei ja nai desu.
Kenta-kun isn’t a student.
Grammar Note: -kun 君 is often added affectionately to male names.
21. あれはオオカミじゃないです。
Are wa ōkami ja nai desu.
That isn’t a wolf.
22. それは嘘じゃないです。
Sore wa uso ja nai desu.
That’s not a lie.
Polite Negative 2: De wa arimasen ではありません
The second method to make the polite negative form is by using de wa arimasen ではありません. This form is considerably politer, and as such, its contracted form ja arimasen じゃありません is on par with de wa arimasen ではありません even in conversation as a result. This is because people typically wish to capitalize on how polite they are when the situation calls for it, and avoiding contractions is one way to accomplish this.
You may be wondering; how do you get arimasen ありません out of nai ない? The answer is that nai ない is the negative form of an actual verb, aru ある. Although we haven't learned about verbs just yet, aru ある is the basic existential verb of Japanese. Meaning, it demonstrates that something "is" and is actually embedded etymologically into all copular phrases of the language.
Just like the copula, verbs also have their own plain and polite conjugations. Just like the copula, there are two means of making the polite negative. The less polite form of aru ある is nai desu ないです. Its politer form is arimasen ありません. Although there isn't any need to break down arimasen ありません, it's important to note that the /n/ at the end is what brings about the negative meaning. Since nai ない also has /n/ in it, this should be easy to remember.
| Non-Past | Past Tense | Negative 1 |
| Desu です | Deshita でした | De wa nai desu ではないです Ja nai desu じゃないです |
| Negative 2 | ||
| De wa arimasen ではありません Ja arimasen じゃありません |
Just like above, there are two methods to making the polite negative-past form. The first simply involves adding desu です to [de wa/ja] nakatta 【では・じゃ】なかった. This form, though not as polite as the one that will follow, is still frequently used in conversation. Given that it is used a lot in conversation, you will hear it as ja nakatta desu じゃなかったです the most.
| Non-Past | Past | Negative 1 | Negative-Past 1 |
| Desu です | Deshita でした | De wa nai desu ではないです Ja nai desu じゃないです | De wa nakatta desu ではなかった です Ja nakatta desu |
| Negative 2 | |||
| De wa arimasen ではありません Ja arimasen じゃありません |
Polite Negative-Past 2: De wa arimasendeshita ではありませんでした
To make the negative-past form politer, you need to conjugate arimasen ありません into the past tense. To this, you add deshita でした to the end, giving arimasendeshita ありませんでした. Altogether, you get [de wa/ja] arimasendeshita 【では・じゃ】ありませんでした. Due to the nature of this form being inherently polite, both ja arimasendeshita じゃありませんでした and de wa arimasendeshita ではありませんでした are used frequently in the spoken language. However, in the written language, de wa arimasendeshita ではありませんでした is overwhelmingly preferred.
Conjugation Recap
| Non-Past | Past | Negative 1 | Negative-Past 1 |
| Desu です | Deshita でした | De wa nai desu ではないです Ja nai desu じゃないです | De wa nakatta desu ではなかったです Ja nakatta desu |
| Negative 2 | Negative-Past 2 | ||
| De wa arimasen ではありません Ja arimasen じゃありません | De wa arimasendeshita ではありませんでした Ja arimasendeshita じゃありませんでした |
35. （そこは）食堂ではありませんでした。
(Soko wa) shokudō de wa arimasendeshita.
(That/it) was not a diner.