471 - お~です

Some happy news: This grammar point is pretty simple, so we'll be through it in no time.


JLPT N3: お~です

When you want to be mega-formal and say "(honorable person) is doing X," you can say お X です.

An example:

社長、中でヤンさんが待ちです
しゃちょう、 なか で ヤンさん が おまち です。
Mr. (Company) President, Yan-san is waiting inside.
Literally: “company president, + inside + で + Yan-san + が + お-waiting + です.”

This sentence is showing respect to Yan-san by using honorific language.

This is essentially the same thing as saying:

社長、中でヤンさんが待っていらっしゃいます
しゃちょう、 なか で ヤンさん が まっていらっしゃいます。
Mr. (Company) President, Yan-san is waiting inside.

Literally: “company president, + inside + で + Yan-san + が + is waiting (honorific).”

And that is just a much more formal version of this:

社長、中でヤンさんが待っています
しゃちょう、 なか で ヤンさん が まっています。
Mr. (Company) President, Yan-san is waiting inside.
Literally: “company president, + inside + で + Yan-san + が + is waiting.”

Long story short: お~です is an honorific form of the present progressive tense.


Formation

1) Take a verb in its ます-form.

2) Remove ます.

3) Put お in the front and です in the back.

待つ(まつ // to wait

待ちます(まちます // wait

待ちですおまちです // [honorable person] is waiting

Another way to phrase that would be:

ます-stemです

待ちですおまちです // [honorable person] is waiting

In this lesson, we're using these verbs:

待つ(まつ // to wait
困る(こまる // to be troubled; to be worried
考える(かんがえる // to think about; to consider
持つ(もつ // to hold; to carry; to possess

I'll leave the conjugations to you. I think you can handle these ones. I have faith in you!

By the way, be careful to note the difference between 待つ (まつ // to wait) and 持つ (もつ // to hold; to carry; to possess), as the kanji are very similar. I misread these all the time, especially when I'm trying to get through a text very quickly.


The お~です form is quite often used when asking very polite questions to people. In fact, all of our remaining example sentences are questions...


お客様、なにか困りですか。
おきゃくさま、 なにか おこまり ですか。
Is something the matter, ma’am [sir]?
Literally: “(honorable) customer, + something + お-troubling + です + か.”

加賀さんはどう考えですか。
かがさん は どう おかんがえ ですか。
What do you think, Kaga-san?
Literally: “Kaga-san + は + how / what + お-thinking + です + か.”

身分証明書を持ちですか。
みぶんしょうめいしょ を おもち ですか。
Do you have a form of identification?
Literally: “form of identification + を + お-holding + です + か.”


See? I told you it'd be a short lesson.




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