Skip to main content
Gogaku

All N4 grammar

N4

〜でございます

The formal polite version of です・ありますmachine translation

FormationNoun・な-adjective + でございます (in place of です); あります → ございます

でございます is the formal version of です, and ございます of あります — both belong to polite language (丁寧語): they don't elevate or humble anyone, they simply polish the sentence for the listener. This is the standard register of staff speaking to customers: こちらが会議室でございます (this is the meeting room), 三階にございます (it is on the third floor).

You'll hear this pattern everywhere: train announcements (次は東京駅でございます), company phones (はい、さくら会社でございます), department stores. As the customer, you only need to understand it — replying with です・ます is perfectly polite on your side; that's exactly why the reversed roles (a customer saying でございます to staff) sound very odd.

In fact you've been using ございます since your very first lesson: ありがとうございます and おはようございます both contain it. The polite question form 〜でございますか and the negative ございません (in place of ありません) follow the same mold: 申し訳ございません (I sincerely apologize) is the standard formal apology of the service industry.

Examples

Related patterns

All N4 grammarReport a content error