Questions tagged [politeness]

丁寧表現(待遇表現). From social politeness ("please", "thank you", etc) to the technical Japanese grammatical concepts of honorifics and respectful and humble forms known as "keigo".

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Does using the past tense make the conversation more polite?

I am wondering if the past tense is used sometimes to increase the level of politeness in a conversation which occurs in present form. For example: お待たせしました In that case, under which circumstances ...
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How to address someone like the owner of a guesthouse

So I am currently in Japan for vacation and also some short work visit and had the chance to use Japanese a little. I learnt things mostly from reading, so I struggled to formulate things verbally in ...
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Choosing the correct level of politeness when translating foreign material

Here is my question: how do you choose the correct level of politeness in Japanese, when translating foreign material that may not follow Japanese rules? Let's say we have a formal setting, e.g. a ...
Danyan's user avatar
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(美化語)なさい - sound

The difference between (連用形)なさい and (美化語)なさい is rather clear; the first would only be used for social inferiors, and the second can be used for social superiors (it's also part of set expressions ...
Angelos's user avatar
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The different usage between "致します" and "申し上げます" interms of 補助動詞

As titled, I have difficulty telling when to use "致します" or "申し上げます" as opposed to the other one. For example, ご連絡くださいますようお願い致します/お願い申し上げます。 ご愛顧を賜わりますようお願い致します/お願い申し上げます。 here is another one ...
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In corporate office, how to ask superior about why he can not proceed with a proposal?

Basically, I want to ask a very senior person why a work cannot be proceed in other way instead of current way. From my side I have following ways to ask. But are there any better ways? ...
M14's user avatar
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How often are です and 〜ます used among friends?

since they are polite forms are they ever often used in informal settings among friends? or would people think you’re being overly polite?
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Do people only end sentences with ように after the -ます form?

Someone left a comment on the answer to this ending sentences with ように question saying that it only works with the -ます form. I tried looking up (どうか)~ように。sentences and all the ones I found were in ...
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