If you are visiting to Japan for business, and try to speak in Japanese, you need to be careful. Being polite is very important in Japan, especially for business.

In Japanese, using the plain/informal verb form is fine when you are having conversation with your mates. However, Japanese business mans may think that you are rude or unsophisticated. Knowing what level of formality is appropriate is an important part of speaking Japanese.

So today, this article tell you how to speak politely in Japanese and explain about the polite/neutral verb form.

Making the polite/neutral verb form is very easy!!

All you have to remember is the following four verb endings:

For affirmative present verbs, add - Masu
For negative present verbs, add Masen
For affirmative past verbs, add Mashita
For negative past verbs, add Masen deshita.

For example, "eat" in Japanese is "Tabe" and if adding these to the end of the verb, it will be

Tabe Masu (eat)
Tabe Masen (don't eat)
Tabe Mashita (ate)
Tabe Masen deshita (did not eat)

"Tabe" is verb, and adding Masu, Masen, Mashita and Masen Deshita makes difference.

So when you are asked a question like "Did you eat Japanese food yesterday?" in Japan,

and if you want to say "I ate Japanese food yesterday" in Japanese.

Kinou, Nihon Shoku o, Tabe Masen deshita.

"Kinou" means "Yesterday", and "Nihon Shoku" means "Japanese Food"

But, you can just say "Tabe masen deshita" in a conversation and still right. You can also listen to this Japanese audio lessons as well.

Takanori Tomita's website - Learn to speak Japanese language http://www.learn-japanese-kanji-hiragana-katakana.com/

Masu, Masen, Mashita, Masen deshita - http://learn-japanese.podomatic.com