N4 · Politeness
Plain and polite style
the plain and the です-ます style
Every sentence chooses a style, and the choice says how close you are to the listener.
Japanese has two everyday styles. The polite style ends a sentence in です or ます: 行きます, 高いです, 学生です. The plain style uses the dictionary form and its relatives: 行く, 高い, 学生だ. The content is identical; what changes is the relationship.
The polite style is the default with anybody you do not know well, with people older or senior to you, with customers and at work. The plain style is for family, close friends, children and people clearly younger than you — and for writing that addresses nobody in particular, such as a diary or a note to yourself. Neither is better: polite speech to a close friend sounds cold, plain speech to a stranger sounds rude.
Politeness lives at the end of the sentence. Inside it — before a noun, before と思います, before のに or とき — the plain form is normal even in polite speech: 昨日買った本は面白いです. Putting ます into the middle, as in 買いました本, is a typical learner mistake.
Two plain forms catch English speakers. An i-adjective never takes だ: 高い is already a complete plain sentence, and 高いだ is wrong. And in casual speech だ itself is often dropped, especially in questions: 明日、暇？, "are you free tomorrow?".
The form
| go — plain | 行く |
| go — polite | 行きます |
| did not go — plain | 行かなかった |
| did not go — polite | 行きませんでした |
| is expensive — plain | 高い |
| is expensive — polite | 高いです |
| is quiet — plain | 静かだ |
| is quiet — polite | 静かです |
| is a student — plain | 学生だ |
| is a student — polite | 学生です |
| let's go — plain | 行こう |
| let's go — polite | 行きましょう |
The rules one by one
Use the polite style with people you do not know well, with older or senior people and at work.
すみません、この近くに郵便局はありますか。Excuse me, is there a post office near here?
Use the plain style with family, close friends and children, and in diaries and notes.
明日、映画を見に行かない？Do you fancy going to see a film tomorrow?
Politeness is shown at the end of the sentence; before a noun, the plain form is normal.
昨日買った本はとても面白いです。The book I bought yesterday is very interesting.
An i-adjective never takes だ; a na-adjective or a noun does in the plain style.
今日は寒いし、雨だ。It is cold today, and it is raining.
Keep one style through a conversation; a shift into plain speech signals closeness or strong feeling.
わあ、きれい！本当にありがとうございます。Oh, how lovely! Thank you so much.
A closer look
Who decides when to drop the polite style
Moving from polite to plain speech is a small event in a relationship. Colleagues of the same age often switch after a few weeks; with somebody older or senior, it is normally the senior person who starts using plain speech, and the junior one may well keep です and ます for years. Casual speech has its own word, タメ口 — literally the talk of people the same age — and using it with a senior who has not offered it is taken as rude.
In between there is a great deal of mixing. People who speak politely to each other drop into the plain form for an exclamation or a thought said half to themselves — あ、そうか — and come back to です for the next sentence. That is not carelessness but texture, and you will hear it in any office.
Exceptions and special cases (1)
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a clause ends in から, けど or が and is followed by a second sentence
the polite form is possible inside the sentence as well: 降っていますから, 高いですが.
雨が降っていますから、タクシーで行きましょう。It is raining, so let's take a taxi.
These clauses do not describe a noun; they join two statements, each of which can carry its own politeness. In careful speech both halves are polite.
How to spot it
- です
- ます
- だ
- 〜る
- 〜た
- 〜ない
Example sentences
先生、明日の授業は何時からですか。Excuse me, what time does tomorrow's class start?
ねえ、明日何時に来る？Hey, what time are you coming tomorrow?
日曜日は家でゆっくり休みました。On Sunday I had a good rest at home.
日曜日は家でゆっくり休んだ。On Sunday I had a good rest at home. (diary)
田中さんは来ないと思います。I do not think Mr Tanaka is coming.
母が作る料理はどれもおいしいです。Everything my mother cooks is delicious.
7 more example sentences
週末、何してた？What were you up to at the weekend?
駅までバスで十分ぐらいです。It is about ten minutes to the station by bus.
この店、安くておいしいね。This place is cheap and good, isn't it?
部長は明日大阪に出張すると言っていました。The manager said he is going to Osaka on business tomorrow.
弟はまだ寝てる。My little brother is still asleep.
分からないことがあったら、聞いてください。If there is anything you do not understand, please ask.
今日は本当に疲れた。I am really tired today.
Worth knowing (2)
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Plain is not rude — it is close
English speakers often hear the plain style as blunt, because it looks like the shortened sentences of a telegram. Between friends it is the opposite: it is the sound of being on the same side. Keeping strictly to です and ます with a friend who has long since dropped them says that you would rather keep your distance.
元気？久しぶり！How are you? It has been ages!
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Writing has a plain style of its own
Essays, reports and newspapers use a plain style that is not casual at all: it ends in である or simply the plain form, and addresses no particular reader. It is plain because it is impersonal, not because it is friendly.
日本は島国である。Japan is an island nation.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
English has no politeness form, so English speakers tend to make every verb polite to be safe. But a clause in front of a noun stays plain, however formal the conversation: politeness is marked once, at the end, and the ました of 読みました already does that job.
Polite at the end, plain inside, and never だ after an i-adjective.
Your turn
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