Pay close attention to what is deemed old-fashioned and what is not.
Nowadays, adjectives hardly ever change for 敬語, though this is a rather new phenomenon. Nowadays, the "honorific" use of adjectives is normally seen in the pattern お+Adjective＋です. This is often felt to just be really polite speech rather than honorific speech, and the use of Adjective ＋ です alone suffices for most of the times honorifics has been used in the past.
Adjectives don't necessarily even refer to human entities, nor does every description of a higher up necessarily get set to him/her face to face. Phrases for making a sentence indirect would most certainly be used in such a situation anyway. So, why is that 丁寧語 can suffice most of the time? 丁寧語 is chosen to show a feeling of politeness and show one's own dignity, but there does not have to be a direct relationship.
お・ご～ Note: The omission of the honorific prefixes is primarily determined whether you are showing respect/humility or using 丁寧語. As you could imagine, the latter case is for when they should be omitted.
In the examples below, you will see various other patterns that hint at what has traditionally been the usage for adjectives. More will be said about them later in this lesson. So, for now, treat options as synonyms.
Are you busy?
I would be happy to go to India.
Sentence Note: This example shows how you can make an adjective more humble. 所存 means intention, and it is a good formal choice. We will get to what exactly ゅうございます is later in this lesson.
Thank you for attending.
4b. 開けてもよろしいでしょうか。(△/More polite)
Is it alright if I open up (the window)?
自然さ Note: よろしいでしょう to many speakers is incorrect 敬語 because it is a doubling of two patterns at once to make it such. However, to some, the politeness of よろしい seems insufficient, thereby making this a reasonable solution.
Exception Note: The honorific form of よい is よろしい・宜しい.
5b. 皆様、ご静粛にお願い申し上げます。（Very respectful)
Everyone, please be quiet.
6b. ご立派であらせられます。（Old-fashioned; very respectful)
You are great.
形容詞: 連用形 ＋ ございます (古風な言い方)
For 形容詞 there is a more older pattern that has fallen out of use that you may still use. Depending on the expression, it may not be so old-fashioned. You'll continue to find situations in the next few lessons in which it is completely fine and normal. However, for any given adjective like 楽しい, using it with the auxiliary ございます as illustrated below is felt to be too grandiose to most people these days.
Again, this is deemed to be old-fashioned, but you can still see a lot of examples of it in literature, and the book don't have to be that old for you to find this pattern used. It also happens to use with any adjective. This pattern utilizes the auxiliary verb ～う after the 連用形 of adjectives. However, there are subsequent contraction rules.
|If it ends in...||Drop||Add||Then Add|
|―いい||―いい||Small ゅ ＋う||ございます|
Grammar Note: When you create the negative form of an adjective, change ございます to ございません and use the く-連用形. In the participial position, only an honorific prefix is used.
You've already seen this perhaps the first day you started learning Japanese with the phrase ありがとうございます. This pattern actually originates from 上方 (from the Kansai Region during the Edo Period) speech. It was one of those things that became part of 標準語 as 標準語 itself developed from influences coming from all corners of the country.
The room is cool even in the summer.
Literally: You're early.
The trip is long.
Separating from one's friends is really sad.
The tea is flat.
Earthquakes and aftershocks are scary, aren't they?
The sky is blue.
"Yes, I'll come for three yen a person. It is a little high, but it is because I sleep the next day".
From 死体紹介人 by 川端康成.
History Note: There was a time in Japan's history when the yen was far more valuable than it is today just as the dollar and penny once were in America.
15. 日本は大きくございません。(品格のある丁寧さ; ちょっと古風)
Japan is not large.
Pattern Note: Avoiding the contractions is a way to make honorific adjectives sound less old-fashioned and yet at the same time be more polite. Remember that sentences like this are examples of 丁寧語, not 尊敬語.
"Then, that's fine", Oyome replied.
From 門 by 夏目漱石.
Contraction Note: よござんす is a shortening of よろしゅうございます and was a common 江戸言葉 in light honorifics a century ago. Always be on the lookout for odd stuff in literature.
Many older speakers cannot get used to adding です or a copula of any sort after a 形容詞. The coming of this pattern, like with many generational changes, can be explained by contractions. In this case, the common practice of the new typing age and East Japanese dialect habits became standard. However, as you learn more about how to make your speech ever more honorific, one way to overcome this grammaticality issue is by changing the adjective to an adverb and using ｛思って・存じて｝おります.
I am very grateful.
Literally: I think very gratefully.
I am very happy.
Literally: I'm thinking happily.
The copula doesn't have a true 謙譲語 form. When you wish to show more politeness with the copula, you use the form でございます. However, this is classified as 丁寧語. It is politer than です・ます調, and it can be used to refer to third person intentions along with sentences regarding oneself. In fact, ございます as a stand alone verb is classified as 尊敬語 or 丁寧語. As far as the copula is concerned, its 尊敬語 is でいらっしゃいます. Referring to their plain forms for convenience, you'll learn that いらっしゃる and ござる happen to be honorific verbs. So, it's no surprise that they would be used this way with the copula.
President, this is Director Fujiwara.
This is something that was entrusted to me from the Emperor.
It's not so.
I am the father of this child.
Yes, this is Suzuki.