The Japanese Masu-Form: Polite Verbs Made Practical

Politeness and time are separate questions

You will often hear masu-forms in classrooms, workplaces, and conversations with people you do not know well. They help set a polite tone.

A form such as 食べます is non-past: it can describe a habit or a future action, depending on context. Do not automatically read it as an English present progressive. “I’m eating right now” commonly needs a different pattern, such as 食べています.

Watch the final kana in godan verbs

The changes are う→い, く→き, ぐ→ぎ, す→し, つ→ち, ぬ→に, ぶ→び, む→み, and る→り. That gives 買う→買います, 飲む→飲みます, and 帰る→帰ります.

You are changing the final sound of the dictionary form, not deleting whichever character happens to be last in an English transcription. Confirm the verb group first: 食べる and 帰る both end in る, but they do not follow the same rule.

Learn four endings together

Using 食べる makes the contrast easy to see. Add a time expression, such as 毎日, “every day,” or 昨日, “yesterday,” when you practice.

昨日きのう、パンを食たべました。

Catch the common wrong turns

食べります applies a godan-style change to an ichidan verb; the correct form is 食べます. 帰ます skips the needed り in 帰ります. 来ます is read きます, not くます.

Your turn

Make the polite forms of 飲む, 見る, and する. Then make them negative and past.

Answers: 飲みます／飲みません／飲みました; 見ます／見ません／見ました; します／しません／しました. Their past-negative forms are 飲みませんでした, 見ませんでした, and しませんでした.

If a change seems unpredictable, revisit verb groups. Once these forms feel familiar, move on to the te-form.