ます
Japanese
Etymology 1
参らす (mairasu) → まらす (marasu) → まっす (massu) → ます (masu)
The -ます ending is generally believed to have come from the Old Japanese auxiliary verb 参らす (mairasu, “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]
The intermediate forms まらす (marasu) and まっす (massu) were valid as both 下二段活用 (shimo nidan katsuyō) conjugations and サ行変格活用 (sa-gyō henkaku katsuyō) conjugations, even though they originally came from a purely 下二段活用 (shimo nidan katsuyō) conjugation, leading to constructions off the 連用形 (ren'yōkei) in the modern paradigm for -ます using the -まし stem.
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).
Suffix
ます • (-masu)
| Alternative spellings |
|---|
| 在す 坐す (rare, dated) 〼 |
- 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
- (rare, humble) to do; expresses humbleness
Usage notes
Inflection rules for the ます form
| Word | dictionary form | -masu form | historical kana |
|---|---|---|---|
| godan verbs (type 1) | |||
| 書く | かく (káꜜkù) | かきます (kàkímáꜜsù) | |
| 泳ぐ | およぐ (òyóꜜgù) | およぎます (òyógímáꜜsù) | |
| 話す | はなす (hànáꜜsù) | はなします (hànáshímáꜜsù) | |
| 待つ | まつ (máꜜtsù) | まちます (màchímáꜜsù) | |
| 死ぬ | しぬ (shìnú) | しにます (shìnímáꜜsù) | |
| 呼ぶ | よぶ (yòbú) | よびます (yòbímáꜜsù) | |
| 読む | よむ (yóꜜmù) | よみます (yòmímáꜜsù) | |
| 作る | つくる (tsùkúꜜrù) | つくります (tsùkúrímáꜜsù) | |
| 買う | かう (kàú) | かいます (kàímáꜜsù) | かひます |
| honorific godan verbs | |||
| くださる | くださる (kùdásáꜜrù) | くださいます (kùdásáímáꜜsù) | くださいます |
| ichidan verbs (type 2) | |||
| 見る | みる (míꜜrù) | みます (mìmáꜜsù) | |
| 開ける | あける (àkérú) | あけます (àkémáꜜsù) | |
| irregular verbs (type 3) | |||
| 来る | くる (kúꜜrù) | きます (kìmáꜜsù) | |
| する | する (sùrú) | します (shìmáꜜsù) | |
- Attaches to the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of a verb and inflects partially like godan 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.
- Attaches last: e.g. polite passive is 話されます (hanasaremasu), not 話しまされる (*hanashimasareru).
- This word is morphologically an inflectional suffix. It is classified as 助動詞 (jodōshi, “auxiliary verb”) in traditional Japanese grammar.
Conjugation
Conjugation of "ます" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)
| Stem forms | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Imperfective (未然形) | 在せ | ませ | -mase | |
| Continuative (連用形) | 在し | まし | -mashi | |
| Terminal (終止形) | 在す | ます | -masu | |
| Attributive (連体形) | 在す | ます | -masu | |
| Hypothetical (仮定形) | 在すれ | ますれ | -masure | |
| Imperative (命令形) | 在せ 在し |
ませ¹ まし¹ |
-mase¹ -mashi¹ | |
| Key constructions | ||||
| Passive | － | － | ||
| Causative | － | － | ||
| Potential | － | － | ||
| Volitional | 在しょう | ましょう | -mashō | |
| Negative | 在せん | ません | -masen | |
| Negative continuative | 在せず | ませず | -masezu | |
| Formal | － | － | ||
| Perfective | 在した | ました | -mashita | |
| Conjunctive | 在して | まして | -mashite | |
| Hypothetical conditional | 在すれば | ますれば | -masureba | |
| ¹ Only used with honorific verbs | ||||
Classical forms:
Classical conjugation of "ます" (サ行下二段活用, see Appendix:Japanese verbs.)
| Stem forms | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Irrealis (未然形) | ませ | mase | |
| Continuative (連用形) | ませ | mase | |
| Terminal (終止形) | ます | masu | |
| Attributive (連体形) | まする | masuru | |
| Realis (已然形) | ますれ | masure | |
| Imperative (命令形) | ませよ | maseyo | |
| Key constructions | |||
| Negative | ませず | masezu | |
| Contrasting conjunction | ますれど | masuredo | |
| Causal conjunction | ますれば | masureba | |
| Conditional conjunction | ませば | maseba | |
| Past tense (firsthand knowledge) | ませき | maseki | |
| Past tense (secondhand knowledge) | ませけり | masekeri | |
| Perfect tense (conscious action) | ませつ | masetu | |
| Perfect tense (natural event) | ませぬ | masenu | |
| Perfect-continuative tense | ませたり | masetari | |
| Volitional | ませむ | masemu | |
Classical conjugation of "ます" (サ行変格活用, see Appendix:Japanese verbs.)
| Stem forms | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Irrealis (未然形) | ませ | mase | |
| Continuative (連用形) | まし | masi | |
| Terminal (終止形) | ます | masu | |
| Attributive (連体形) | まする | masuru | |
| Realis (已然形) | ますれ | masure | |
| Imperative (命令形) | ませよ | maseyo | |
| Key constructions | |||
| Negative | ませず | masezu | |
| Contrasting conjunction | ますれど | masuredo | |
| Causal conjunction | ますれば | masureba | |
| Conditional conjunction | ませば | maseba | |
| Past tense (firsthand knowledge) | ましき | masiki | |
| Past tense (secondhand knowledge) | ましけり | masikeri | |
| Perfect tense (conscious action) | ましつ | masitu | |
| Perfect tense (natural event) | ましぬ | masinu | |
| Perfect-continuative tense | ませり ましたり | maseri masitari | |
| Volitional | ませむ | masemu | |
Alternative form (to do):
Conjugation of "まする" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)
| Katsuyōkei ("stem forms") | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mizenkei ("imperfective") | まし | mashi | ||
| Ren’yōkei ("continuative") | まし | mashi | ||
| Shūshikei ("terminal") | まする | masuru | ||
| Rentaikei ("attributive") | まする | masuru | ||
| Kateikei ("hypothetical") | ますれ | masure | ||
| Meireikei ("imperative") | ませよ¹ ましろ² |
maseyo¹ mashiro² | ||
| Key constructions | ||||
| Passive | まされる | masareru | ||
| Causative | まさせる まさす |
masaseru masasu | ||
| Potential | まできる | madekiru | ||
| Volitional | ましよう | mashiyō | ||
| Negative | ましない | mashinai | ||
| Negative continuative | ませず | masezu | ||
| Formal | まします | mashimasu | ||
| Perfective | ました | mashita | ||
| Conjunctive | まして | mashite | ||
| Hypothetical conditional | ますれば | masureba | ||
| ¹ Written imperative
² Spoken imperative | ||||
See also
- です (desu)
Japanese basic inflections
| 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 kana spelling of several native words.
Definitions
| For pronunciation and definitions of ます – see the following entries. | ||
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| (This term, ます, is the hiragana spelling of the above terms.) For a list of all kanji read as ます, see Category:Japanese kanji read as ます.) |
(The following entry is uncreated: 斗.)
References
- Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
- Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
- Online Japanese Accent Dictionary (OJAD)
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