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Polite verbs
The verbs below are all of the godan type. (Note that the regular forms also exist for these verbs, but are seldom used.)
Polite verbs irregular in the conjunctive and imperative forms Verb "ます masu form" Imperative
くださる kudasaru くださいます kudasaimasu ください kudasai
なさる nasaru なさいます nasaimasu なさい nasai
いらっしゃる irassharu いらっしゃいます irasshaimasu いらっしゃい irasshai
おっしゃる ossharu おっしゃいます osshaimasu おっしゃい osshai
Note that the conjunctive and past forms of the first two verbs, くださる and なさる, also have the alternative forms くだすって／くだすった kudasutte/kudasutta and なすって／なすった nasutte/nasutta, in addition to the normal regular conjugations くださって／くださった kudasatte/kudasatta and なさって／なさった nasatte/nasatta. However, the alternative forms have fallen into disuse - while they are often encountered when reading texts from a few decades ago, it is the regular conjugations that are usually used today. The first three of the above verbs are also the only ones where the imperative form of the ます masu auxiliary verb, ませ mase, is sometimes used: くださいませ kudasaimase, なさいませ nasaimase, いらっしゃいませ irasshaimase. This adds an extra level of politeness.
Additionally, ございます gozaimasu, which originally came from the now-defunct yodan ("four-row") classical Japanese verb gozaru, is also used, although in modern usage, it is always used with the ます masu auxiliary verb ending. There is no imperative form (i.e. you cannot use ませ mase like above).
Jason wrote:Ok, I know that ませ and まし are used in 敬語 to make requests more polite. But what exactly is the difference between them? Are there rules for when to use which?
