Translation guide
Japanese has multiple speech styles that express politeness, formality, and social distance. The most common is the です・ます style, used in everyday polite conversation. Honorific and humble forms show respect toward the subject or object. Choosing the right style depends on the relationship, setting, and medium.
The standard polite style used with strangers, acquaintances, superiors, and in many public settings. Characterized by sentence-ending です and ます.
Shows respect toward the subject of the sentence (the person doing the action). Used when talking about superiors, customers, or people you want to honor.
Honorific language elevates the subject. Common patterns include お/ご～になる, special honorific verbs (いらっしゃる, おっしゃる, ご覧になる), and the passive form used as honorific.
先生はもうお帰りになりました。
The teacher has already gone home.
社長はこの書類をご覧になりますか。
Will the president look at this document?
Lowers the speaker's own actions to show respect to the listener or the person affected by the action. Used when talking about yourself or your in-group to outsiders.
Used in essays, reports, academic papers, news articles, and formal documents. Typically uses the plain form (だ・である) rather than です・ます.
The である style is common in formal writing. It replaces だ/です with である, and verbs remain in plain form.
これは重要な問題である。
This is an important problem.
結果を以下に示す。
The results are shown below.
Used with close friends, family, children, or in informal situations. Drops です/ます and uses plain forms.
The plain or casual style. Verbs and adjectives appear in their dictionary or plain forms. Often accompanied by casual particles like ね, よ, なあ.
これ、おいしいね。
This is tasty, isn't it?
明日映画を見に行く？
Wanna go see a movie tomorrow?
Adds politeness to nouns and adjectives. お is used with native Japanese words, ご with Sino-Japanese words.
Prefixing お or ご makes words sound more refined or respectful. Common in customer service and polite conversation.
お名前は何ですか。
What is your name?
ご家族はお元気ですか。
How is your family?
Making requests politely using ～てください, ～ていただけますか, or honorific/humble patterns.
Standard polite request. Add ください to the te-form of a verb.
ここに名前を書いてください。
Please write your name here.
Very polite request using humble form. Literally 'Could I receive the favor of you doing...'
少々お待ちいただけますか。
Could you please wait a moment?
です・ます is the default polite style for most adult interactions. Plain form is used with close friends, family, and in many written formats. Switching between them in the same conversation can signal changes in intimacy or formality.
Using honorific or humble forms when not required can sound sarcastic or overly distant. In many workplace settings, です・ます with some set phrases is sufficient. Reserve heavy honorifics for customers, very formal occasions, or when explicitly showing respect.
For learners, です・ます is the safest choice in most situations. It is polite without being overly formal, and it is widely accepted in both spoken and written communication.