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I have only found the ~ませ conjugation used in the following honorific verbs:

  1. いらっしゃいませ
  2. くださいませ
  3. なさいませ

Can the conjugation be applied to other honorific verbs, like おっしゃいませ or めしあがりませ?

Or even common verbs, like がんばりませ or つづきませ?

1 Answer 1

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ませ is the imperative form of the polite ます.

For all of your examples, you cannot directly add ませ, but you can add くださいませ:

  • おっしゃってくださいませ
  • 召し上がってくださいませ
  • 頑張ってくださいませ
  • 続いてくださいませ

or なさいませ:

  • おっしゃいなさいませ
  • 召し上がりなさいませ
  • 頑張りなさいませ
  • 続きなさいませ

Probably, only a few verbs including the ones Lukman mentions have the conjugation ませ. And ento found that 召しませ, is also possible.

My speculation for this is that only the verbs that:

  1. have an auxiliary usage besides its main verb usage, and
  2. are suppletive honorification

have the ませ conjugation.

  • いらっしゃる, いる 'be' [As main verb]
  • 召し上がっていらっしゃる, 食べている 'have been' [As auxiliary]
  • くださる, くれる 'give to me' [As main verb]
  • 召し上がってくださる, 食べてくれる 'eat for me' [As auxiliary]
  • なさる, する 'do' [As main verb]
  • 召し上がりなさる, お食べになる [As auxiliary]
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  • So can you confirm that the conjugation is really restricted to the three verbs and all their compounds, and is not applicable for other verbs?
    – Lukman
    Jul 21, 2011 at 8:36
  • @Dave ませ attaches to ください, which selects the -form. I removed that part from the answer.
    – user458
    Jul 21, 2011 at 8:50
  • 1
    There are 1M+ results for 召しませ, a phrase I've heard from time to time but neglected to look up its exact meaning. Is this another exception?
    – ento
    Jul 21, 2011 at 9:02
  • @ento Thanks for pointing it out. I do not know much to be able to say anything about that.
    – user458
    Jul 21, 2011 at 9:15

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