if you please

English

Etymology

The construction is unusual since the infinitive to please originally meant only “to satisfy”, not “to be satisfied”. One solution entails interpreting you as an object pronoun and please as a verb in the third-person singular subjunctive, such that if you please actually meant if it may please you. The according constructions if thee please, if him please, if them please, etc., are indeed attestable. However, if this approach is correct, the reinterpretation of the pronoun as the subject of the phrase must be very old as we also find if thou please and so on. A second hypothesis construes "if you please" as an intransitive, ergative form taken from if it pleases you which is a calque of French s’il vous plaît. Alternatively, if you please may be a bastardization of if you'd please, which is an abbreviation of if you would please be so kind, wherein please constitutes an adverb, not a verb.

Phrase

if you please

1. (dated, formal) please
   • 1906, Edith Nesbit, The Railway Children, Chapter 4: The engine-burglar,

     The engine-driver and fireman did not see her. They were leaning out on the other side, telling the Porter a tale about a dog and a leg of mutton.
     

     "If you please," said Roberta--but the engine was blowing off steam and no one heard her.
     

     "If you please, Mr. Engineer," she spoke a little louder, but the Engine happened to speak at the same moment, and of course Roberta's soft little voice hadn't a chance.

Translations

(dated, formal) please

• Danish: om du vil være så venlig
• Hungarian: (szíves) engedelmével/engedelmeddel (the former is formal; the latter is informal)
• Latin: sī vultis, sultis, sī vīs sōdēs

References

• “if you please” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• “if you please”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “if you please”, in Collins English Dictionary.