16

I have only found the ～ませ conjugation used in the following honorific verbs:

  1. いらっしゃいませ
  2. くださいませ
  3. なさいませ

Can the conjugation be applied to other honorific verbs, like おっしゃいませ or めしあがりませ?

Or even common verbs, like がんばりませ or つづきませ?

Lukman
  • 19,805
  • 20
  • 94
  • 195

1 Answers1

7

ませ is the imperative form of the polite ます.

For all of your examples, you cannot directly add ませ, but you can add くださいませ:

  • おっしゃってくださいませ
  • 召し上がってくださいませ
  • 頑張ってくださいませ
  • 続いてくださいませ

or なさいませ:

  • おっしゃいなさいませ
  • 召し上がりなさいませ
  • 頑張りなさいませ
  • 続きなさいませ

Probably, only a few verbs including the ones Lukman mentions have the conjugation ませ. And ento found that 召しませ, is also possible.

My speculation for this is that only the verbs that:

  1. have an auxiliary usage besides its main verb usage, and
  2. are suppletive honorification

have the ませ conjugation.

  • いらっしゃる, いる 'be' [As main verb]
  • 召し上がっていらっしゃる, 食べている 'have been' [As auxiliary]
  • くださる, くれる 'give to me'　[As main verb]
  • 召し上がってくださる, 食べてくれる 'eat for me' [As auxiliary]
  • なさる, する 'do' [As main verb]
  • 召し上がりなさる, お食べになる [As auxiliary]
rintaun
  • 7,609
  • 2
  • 31
  • 70
  • So can you confirm that the conjugation is really restricted to the three verbs and all their compounds, and is not applicable for other verbs? – Lukman Jul 21 '11 at 08:36
  • @Dave ませ attaches to ください, which selects the て-form. I removed that part from the answer. –  Jul 21 '11 at 08:50
  • 1
    There are 1M+ results for 召しませ, a phrase I've heard from time to time but neglected to look up its exact meaning. Is this another exception? – ento Jul 21 '11 at 09:02
  • @ento Thanks for pointing it out. I do not know much to be able to say anything about that. –  Jul 21 '11 at 09:15