ます
Japanese
Etymology 1
mawirasuru → mairasuru → marasuru → massuru → masuru → masu
The -ます ending is generally believed to have come from the Old Japanese auxiliary verb まゐらする (mairasuru, “to humbly do something for a superior”), with idiomatic use arising from the causative conjugation of 参る (mairu, “to come or go to the place of a social superior”, humble verb; ancient reading mawiru).[1][2]
Pronunciation
- In Tokyo speech, the accent falls somewhere in the suffix, regardless of the accent type of the suffixed verb:[3]
- If the suffix is in the form ます (-masu) or ました (-mashita, past/perfective form), the accent of the verb construction falls on the first mora of the suffix.
- If the suffix is in the form ましょう (-mashō, volitional/conjectural form) or ません (-masen, negative form), the accent of the verb construction falls on the second mora of the suffix.
- There are a few exceptions like 恐れ入る: おそれいる [òsóꜜrèìrù] (Nakadaka) → おそれいります [òsóꜜrèìrìmàsù] (Nakadaka).
Alternative forms
Suffix
- (jodōshi) expresses politeness toward and distance from the listener: vaguely similar to the social context indicated by the usted verb conjugation in Spanish, the vous conjugation in French, or the Sie conjugation in German
Conjugation
| Stem forms | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Imperfective (未然形) | － | － | ||
| Continuative (連用形) | － | － | ||
| Terminal (終止形) | ます | -masu | ||
| Attributive (連体形) | － | － | ||
| Hypothetical (仮定形) | － | － | ||
| Imperative (命令形) | ませ¹ まし¹ |
-mase¹ -mashi¹ | ||
| Key constructions | ||||
| Passive | － | － | ||
| Causative | － | － | ||
| Potential | － | － | ||
| Volitional | ましょう | -mashō | ||
| Negative | ません | -masen | ||
| Negative continuative | － | － | ||
| Formal | － | － | ||
| Perfective | ました | -mashita | ||
| Conjunctive | まして | -mashite | ||
| Hypothetical conditional | ますれば | -masureba | ||
| ¹ Rare, only used with honorific verbs | ||||
Other forms not attested.
Usage notes
Connects to the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of a verb and inflects partially like type-1 verbs. The imperative forms are only used with honorific verbs, e.g. いらっしゃいませ (irasshaimase), なさいませ (nasaimase), 下さいませ (kudasaimase). The perfective has an irregular negative form ませんでした (masen deshita); the hypothetical conditional is rare. The old dictionary form まする (masuru) is still sometimes used. When there is a choice, attaches last: e.g. polite passive is 話されます (hanasaremasu), not 話しまされる (*hanashimasareru).
Derived terms
See also
- です (desu)
| Verbs | -i adjectives | nouns and -na adjectives | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpast | Plain | Affirmative | Use the dictionary form | stem + い (-i) | noun + だ (da) (noun + である (de aru)) |
| Negative | mizenkei + ない (-nai) | stem + くない (-ku nai) | noun + で（は）ない (de [wa] nai) | ||
| Polite | Affirmative | ren'yōkei + ます (-masu) | stem + いです (-i desu) | noun + です (desu) | |
| Negative | ren'yōkei + ません (-masen) | stem + くないです (-ku nai desu) stem + くありません (-ku arimasen) |
noun + で（は）ないです (de [wa] nai desu) noun + で（は）ありません (de [wa] arimasen) | ||
| Past | Plain | Affirmative | ren'yōkei (with onbin sound changes for Group I verbs) + た (-ta) | stem + かった (-katta) | noun + だった (datta) (noun + であった (de atta)) |
| Negative | mizenkei + なかった (-nakatta) | stem + くなかった (-ku nakatta) | noun + で（は）なかった (de [wa] nakatta) | ||
| Polite | Affirmative | ren'yōkei + ました (-mashita) | stem + かったです (-katta desu) | noun + でした (deshita) | |
| Negative | ren'yōkei + ませんでした (-masen deshita) | stem + くなかったです (-ku nakatta desu) stem + くありませんでした (-ku arimasen deshita) |
noun + で（は）なかったです (de [wa] nakatta desu) noun + で（は）ありませんでした (de [wa] arimasen deshita) | ||
| Volitional | Plain | mizenkei (of Group I verbs) + う (-u > -o) mizenkei (of other verbs) + よう (-yō) |
†stem + かろう (-karō) (stem + いだろう (-i darō)) |
noun + だろう (darō) (noun + であろう (de arō)) | |
| Polite | ren'yōkei + ましょう (-mashō) | (stem + いでしょう (-i deshō)) | noun + でしょう (deshō) | ||
| Conjunctive | ren'yōkei (with onbin sound changes for Group I verbs) + て (-te) | stem + くて (-kute) | noun + で (de) (noun + であって (de atte)) | ||
| Hypothetical conditional | kateikei + ば (-ba) | stem + ければ (-kereba) | (noun + であれば (de areba)) | ||
Etymology 2
The reading of various kanji.
Pronunciation 1
Noun
Verb
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Pronunciation 2
Noun
- 鱒: trout
- 枡, 升, 桝, 斗: a traditional Japanese cup (unit of measurement)
- 斗: (architecture) the capital of a wooden pillar
References
- ^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
- ^ Online Japanese Accent Dictionary (OJAD)