ます

Japanese

Etymology 1

参(まゐ)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(まゐ)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).

The intermediate forms まらす (marasu) and まっす (massu) were valid as both 下(しも)二(に)段(だん)活(かつ)用(よう) (shimo nidan katsuyō) conjugations and サ行(ぎょう)変(へん)格(かく)活(かつ)用(よう) (sa-gyō henkaku katsuyō) conjugations, even though they originally came from a purely 下(しも)二(に)段(だん)活(かつ)用(よう) (shimo nidan katsuyō) conjugation, leading to constructions off the 連(れん)用(よう)形(けい) (ren'yōkei) in the modern paradigm for -ます using the -まし stem.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ま​す (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

• In Tokyo speech, the accent falls somewhere in the suffix, regardless of the accent type of the suffixed verb:
  • 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  (Nakadaka) → おそ​れいります  (Nakadaka).

Suffix

ます • (-masu) 

1. 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
2. (rare, humble) to do; expresses humbleness

Usage notes

• 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

Classical forms:

Alternative form (to do):

Derived terms

• ですます体(たい) (desu-masu tai)
• ですます調(ちょう) (desu-masu chō)
• 汝(いまし) (imashi)
• 汝(まし) (mashi)
• 汝(みまし) (mimashi)

See also

• です (desu)

Etymology 2

The kana spelling of several native words.

Definitions

(The following entry is uncreated: 斗.)

References