Politeness


One aspect of Japanese that makes it unique it its vast ability to express politeness. The most common way this is done is by using the "polite mode" of a verb. So far you have learned the "plain mode" of verbs. The plain mode, which you have been learning, is used:
This contrasts to the polite mode which is used:
If you become familiar with someone and you wonder if you should start talking to them in plain mode instead of polite, just see how they speak to you first. If they start talking with plain mode to you, you can feel free to use plain mode back to them. But if they use polite mode, it is usually best to stick with polite.

The polite mode is formed by conjugating the last verb of your sentences. It cannot appear in modifiers. When the polite mode is called for, you have to use it even when talking about yourself and others, whereas in French or Spanish, you only use polite verbs (vous and usted forms) when talking about the person you are being polite to.

RU Verbs
To conjugate the polite mode for verbs, first you make the verb polite, and then after that, you may conjugate it further according to the ます (masu) conjugation chart at the end of this list.

RU Verbs are made polite by removing the final る and then adding the polite ending ます (masu).

わたしは　りんごを　たべます。
Remember we are using actual hiragana now. If you do not have a font converter, look on my FAQ page for help. Two very important things you need to get straight is there are three irregular postpositions in Japanese. I mentioned this in my hiragana tutorials, but they have finally become relavent here. The postpositions "wa" "o" and "e" are written は (ha) を(wo) and へ (he) respectively. These reflect on ancient methods of writting before the writting reforms after World War II. These are the only three exceptions to spelling in kana, and you must know them.

As for the actual sentence, you can see it begins with わたしは (watashi wa) which translates to "I" in English. The verb is in the polite mode. たべます (tabemasu) obviously came from the verb たべる (taberu) which means "to eat." Lastly is our object りんご (ringo) which translates to "apples."
I eat apples (polite).

わたしは　テレビを　みます。
Our sentence begins again with わたしは (watashi wa) which translates to "I" in English. The verb みます (mimasu) comes from the verb みる (miru) which is translated as "to watch" or "to see." The object here is テレビ (TEREBI) which means "TV." So this sentence means
I watch TV (polite).

U Verbs
RU verbs aren't as hard in polite mode as they are in past tense. Simply remove the final "-u" and add an "-i" in before the adding the polite ending ます(masu). That's all there is to it.

とりは　とびます。
The subject here is とりは (tori wa) which means "birds." The verb is とびます (tobimasu). The base verb is とぶ (tobu). If you remove the final "-u" and add "-i" and the polite ending ます (masu), you get とびます (tobimasu).
Birds fly (polite).

The artist draws pictures (polite).
Now the other way around. The subject here is "artist" which is translated as がか (gaka). Remember that "wa" is written は which is normally pronounced "ha." The object here is "pictures" which is translated as え (e) in Japanese and since it's the object we add the object marker を (wo) after it. After that, we have to deal with the verb. "Draws" is translated as かく (kaku) in Japanese. The final "-u" becomes "-i," so the stem is かき (kaki) and then we add our polite ending ます (masu) after that. So we get かきます (kakimasu) for our verb.
がかは　えを　かきます。

Irregular Verbs
The polite form of する is します (shimasu) and the polite form of くる (kuru) is きます (kimasu). The ending ます (masu) conjugates normally, though.

I will come to the meeting (polite).
"I" is translated as わたしは (watashi wa)　and "to the meeting" would be translated as かいぎ (kaigi ni).The verb would be the polite form of くる (kuru) which is きます (kimasu).
わたしは　かいぎに　きます。

Semi-Irregular Verbs
Both "aru" and "iku" conjugated as normal U verbs in the polite mode. The ます (masu) ending is also normal when conjugated.

The Polite Verb Suffix ます
After you make a verb polite, you may need to conjugate it further. To do so, the polite ending itself changes.
Tense     Affirmative      Negative
Non-past  ます (masu)      ません (masen)
Past      ました (mashita) ませんでした (masen deshita)
The Copula
The polite copula is です (desu). It has irregular conjugations. 
Tense      Affirmative       Negative 
Non-past   です (desu)       ではありません (de wa arimasen)
Past       でした (deshita)  ではありませんでした (de wa arimasen deshita)
Remember that the "wa" in "de wa arimasen" is actually the subject marker and is also written は and not わ。 Also, remember that では (de wa) often contracts to じゃ (ja). Lastly, it might be helpful to point out that ありません (arimasen) is actually the past-polite form of the verb ある (aru) [to be].

I adjectives
I adjectives are different from verbs. You have to conjugate them first, and then you make them polite. That is the reverse of verbs. After you conjugate them, you add on the polite suffix d(desu). The です (desu) after an I adjective will never appear as でした (deshita) or ではありません (de wa arimasen).

Sushi is delicious (polite).
"Sushi" is our subject and we translate it to すし and add the subject marker は after it. After that, we have our I adjective. "Delicious" is translated as おいしい (oishii). Then add the polite suffix です after the adjective which we didn't need to conjugate because it was already in the non-past tense.
すしは　おいしい。

This book isn't good (polite).
This time we have a negative-polite adjective. Our subject is "this book." We haven't learned about "this/that" words yet, but let me just say "this" is translated as この (kono) here and "book" is translated as ほん (hon) Now we look at our adjective. "Good" is usually translated as いい (ii) but remember, it's irregular. When you try to conjugate it, it becomes よい (yoi) instead of いい (ii). Remember, for adjectives, first we conjugate, then we add the polite ending です (desu). So the negative of よい would be よく　ない (yoku nai). If you don't remember how to make an I adjective negative, look back to the previous chapter and practice the negative some more. Lastly, we add です (desu) after our negative adjective and we get よく　ないです (yoku nai desu).
この　ほんは　よく　ないです。

One important thing to note on pronounciation is that the weak vowel rule applies to all the occurences of the kana す "su" at the end of ます (masu) and です (desu)　and also applies to the し (shi) sound in ました (mashita) and でした (deshita). Try to pronounce ます　and です　more like "mas" and "des" and でした (deshita) and ました (mashita)like "deshta" and "mashta." If you do, your Japanese will sound much more authentic.

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