Part 1 · How a sentence works · Lesson 11
Plain and polite speech, and the phrases you'll hear every day
How the plain and polite styles fit together, which to use with whom, and the grammar hidden inside greetings like いただきます, お疲れ様 and よろしくお願いします.
Two styles for the same words
You have now met both styles. Here they are side by side.
| Plain | Polite | |
|---|---|---|
| to be | だ | です |
| to eat | 食べる | 食べます |
| didn't eat | 食べなかった | 食べませんでした |
| tasty | おいしい | おいしいです |
| it was tasty | おいしかった | おいしかったです |
Plain is for friends, family, children, and your own thoughts. It is the form in a dictionary and the form of narration. Polite is for strangers, customers, people older or higher in rank, and any situation where you are not close.
Mixing styles
Real people mix. A junior may speak polite to a senior and the senior answers in plain. Shop staff are polite to customers. Friends speak plain, then slip into polite to joke or to be sarcastic.
Within one conversation, keep the style steady, unless the mix is deliberate. Switching to plain with someone you have just met sounds rude; switching to polite with a friend can sound cold or ironic.
Greetings are small grammar lessons
Set phrases look like vocabulary, but many are contractions of full sentences.
| Phrase | Literally | Used |
|---|---|---|
| おはようございます | it is early (honorific) | morning |
| こんにちは | as for today (it is...) | daytime |
| こんばんは | as for this evening (it is...) | evening |
| ありがとうございます | it is difficult-to-have (rare) | thanks |
| すみません | it doesn't end (my apology) | sorry; excuse me; thanks |
| いただきます | I humbly receive | before eating |
| ごちそうさまでした | it was a feast | after eating |
| いってきます | I'll go and come back | leaving home |
| いってらっしゃい | go and come back | to someone leaving |
| ただいま | right now (I've come home) | arriving home |
| おかえりなさい | you've returned | welcoming home |
| よろしくお願いします | please treat me well | first meeting; asking favours |
| お疲れ様です | you must be tired | work; greeting colleagues |
The こんにちは family
こんにちは and こんばんは are fossils: 今日は… and 今晩は… (the topic は, with the rest of the sentence dropped). That is why the last kana is written は and read "wa".
ありがとう
It is a plain-form phrase: ありがとう (thanks), ありがとうございます (polite), ありがとうございました (past: thanks for what you did).
すみません: three jobs
いただきます and the humble verb
いただきます is the humble form of もらう ("I receive"). You say it before eating to receive the meal. The same verb appears in 〜ていただく ("have someone do for me"), which you will see again in the lesson on keigo.
言わなくても通じる
Many phrases leave out everything that is understood. お疲れ様です is just a noun plus です: "(you are) a weary one", an acknowledgement of someone's effort. You say it as a greeting to colleagues. The grammar is already familiar; the rest of the thought is simply implied.
Longer sentences
A whole first-meeting exchange mixes set phrases and ordinary grammar. Read it as a script.
Key points
- Plain for close people and thoughts; polite for everyone else.
- If unsure, use polite.
- Keep one style per conversation unless you mean the switch.
- Greetings are fixed phrases that contain real grammar: は-topic, humble verbs, ございます.
- すみません covers sorry, excuse me and thank you.
Drill these patterns
Short example sentences for the points in this lesson: