Grammar Info

N4 Lesson 7: 11/18

なさるTo do (Honorific)

Remember not to use honorific language when speaking about yourself and your actions!

Structure

するなさる
料理(りょうり)する → 料理(りょうり)なさる
お + Verb[stem]+ なさる

Conjugations
Verb[る]なさる
Verb[ない]なさらない
Verb[た]なさった
Verb[なかった] → なさらなかった

Details

  • Register

    Polite

About なさる

なさる is an honorific language verb which acknowledges and respects the actions of another (never the speaker). Like お~になる, なさる has exactly the same meaning as する.

なさる can be utilized in any situation where する would be used, as a direct replacement. It is a special-class verb, which means that it has some unique conjugation rules. In its casual form, it will conjugate in exactly the same way as a う-Verb.

However, in the polite form, instead of る changing to り (as would be expected of a う-Verb), it will change to い instead.

Caution

Although some Japanese speakers will use it, expressions like なさっていらっしゃる are considered double keigo (なさる is honorific language, and いらっしゃる is also honorific language), and are technically incorrect. However, なさる may be partnered with ます, which is simply polite speech.

Fun Fact

なさる is considered a little bit old fashioned in modern Japanese, and お~になる is the preferred form used by most native speakers.

Antonyms


Examples

--:--

    ()(もの)どうなさいます

    What will you have to drink?

    今朝(けさ)(かれ)(いえ)留守(るす)なさいました

    He was away from home this morning.

    子供(こども)ころスポーツなさっていたんです

    I hear that you played sports when you were younger.

    (いま)(なに)勉強(べんきょう)なさっています

    What are you studying now?

    (なに)なさろうとするのです

    What will you attempt to do?

  • Get more example sentences!

    Premium users get access to 12 example sentences on all Grammar Points.

Self-Study Sentences

Study your own way!

Add sentences and study them alongside Bunpro sentences.

なさる – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (29 in total)

  • Pushindawood

    Pushindawood

    to do (honorific)

    Structure

    • する → なさる
    • 料理する → 料理 なさる

    Remember not to use honorific language when speaking about yourself and your actions!

    Used in honorific language instead of する.

    View on Bunpro

  • chonzy

    chonzy

    Hey,

    For this sentence:

    あの人ひとを信用___か

    I feel that ~していらっしゃいます it should be accepted as a correct answer instead of ~なさっていらっしゃいます which just sounds like too much (doble honorific).

    Let me know what you think, thanks!

  • mrnoone

    mrnoone

    Hey

    You are right, していらっしゃいます is now accepted.

    Cheers!

  • snugglesnacks

    snugglesnacks

    Can someone walk me through this question?

    何なにを なさろう とするんですか。

    Maybe I’ve just never heard it said in casual speech, but I don’t understand the “とする” part and why it is necessary. All I’ve ever heard casually is “どうしよう” or “どうするの” so to me it seems like the “とする” part is redundant, and a bit strange to have a casual verb in the same sentence as honorific. Can someone help me out?

  • Pushindawood

    Pushindawood

    @snugglesnacks Hey! Thank you for your inquiry. I believe that the source of confusion comes from the fact that this sentence uses an advanced grammar structure that has not yet been covered. 〜ようとする is a grammar structure meaning “to try to” or “to attempt.” Therefore, なさろうとする means “to try to do.” The んです at the end signifies that the speaker is asking for further explanation. We will need to get this sentence replaced since it uses a grammar point from N3. In the meantime, I will link 〜ようとする to this sentence. I apologize for the confusion and the inconvenience. Cheers!

  • snugglesnacks

    snugglesnacks

    Okay! Thanks for the explanation. I noticed that the grammar was tagged in blue in my reviews today, so thanks for the quick fix

  • ulurujamman

    ulurujamman

    Could someone remind me why the polite conjugated continuous past form of なさる is なさっている and not なさっていました?

  • mrnoone

    mrnoone

    Hey

    なさっていました is conjugated polite past form.

    You can also say:
    なさっていたん(or の)です
    but it might have an explanatory nuance.

    I hope it helps,
    Cheers!

  • ulurujamman

    ulurujamman

    Thanks for answering, mrnoone - though I’m a little confused because I thought んです was acting to indicate an explanation in the sentence I’m looking at:

    子供のころスポーツを なさっていた んですね。

    So in this case, implying something like “and that’s why I’m talking to you” or “and that’s why I’d like to hear about your opinion on sport”

    But you’re saying that it’s an alternative conjugation, just like with the alternative negative past form for verbs:

    e.g.
    食べなかったです/食べませんでした

    In which case, does it completely lose the kind of nuance that のです/んです usually carries when it ends a sentence? Also, is it grammatically wrong or at least awkward to write:

    子供のころスポーツをなさっていましたんですね。

  • mrnoone

    mrnoone

    I meant it as a grammatically correct example where you could use the short form, the politeness is marked by ん (の)です instead of ます. I wasn’t relating to the meaning though. Sorry for the confusion.

    Basically, I was answering this (and tried to give similar, but correct example):

  • ulurujamman

    ulurujamman

    Thanks for taking the time to give such a clear and thorough explanation - I understand it a lot better now!

  • mrnoone

    mrnoone

    I am really glad!

    I was scared I wrote it in a confusing way

  • eran

    eran

    I still don’t understand why “the short form has to precede the ん・のです”
    When did we learn that なさっていた is the short form and that it must precede the んです?
    is なさっていたんです grammatically wrong?

  • mrnoone

    mrnoone

    なさっていたんです is grammatically correct, なさっていました is also grammatically correct.

    The short form is another name for the plain form, opposed to long form - polite form。
    Short form: 行く、来る、食べる、なさる、なさっている、なさっていた
    Long form: 行きます、来ます、食べます、なさいました、なさっています、なさっていました

    As a rule of thumb, the politeness (with some exceptions like が、けれども and sometimes けど、から、ので) is marked only at the end of sentence. So if it is already marked in the end, you don’t have to use the polite form in other clauses in this sentence.

    子供のころスポーツをなさっていたんですね。Good
    No need to use another polite form in this sentence, since politeness is already marked by んです。
    (子供のころスポーツをなさっていましたんですね...

  • JT421

    JT421

    What is the purpose of the casual conjugations when using honorific language?

    It seems strange. I tried using a casual conjugation on honorific language on another grammar point, and it was considered sub-optimal for that very reason. So I am just wondering what possible situation it is suitable?

  • mrnoone

    mrnoone

    @JT421

    Hey

    Very or more like, EXTREMELY good question!

    First of all, the “casual form” might be a bit misleading. Let’s think of it as a “short form”.

    You can use it when for example you talk about a person you want to exalt, but you talk with your friend (ます expresses politeness to a person you are talking)

    友達に教師について:「先生はどうなさったの?」

    Another case would be ...

  • matt_in_mito

    matt_in_mito

    @mrnoone this is a great way of explaining. I was trying to think of a way to answer this question yesterday but couldn’t think of a clear way to put it so I decided against posting.
    You do hear this fairly often in the office so it’s fair to say that it’s pretty common to use the dictionary form.

  • CrisH

    CrisH

    Sorry to add to an already extensive thread, but I can’t find anywhere that says んです is a…politeness indicator, for lack of a better term. Or is it purely due to the choice of です over だ?

  • testing

    testing

    I’m currently going through Genki 2 (2nd ed) and I’m a bit confused about する/なさる + ている.

    With ている, the grammar in Genki 2 has examples
    a) for special honorific verbs as [honorific verb]ている, e.g. ご覧になっています, and
    b) for verbs lacking a special honorific as [verb]ていらっしゃいます, e.g. 話していらっしゃいます.

    After that, I’d expect している to become なさっている, but the following exercise (chapter 19, exercise 1C) has two cases where it conjugates to していらっしゃる:

    • 結婚していますか becomes 結婚していらっしゃいますか
    • 勉強していますか becomes 勉強していらっしゃいますか

    Would なさっていますか be valid? Are they both valid? Is there any difference?

    edit: I tasked my tutor, and while she has no idea why Genki uses one over the other, she considers both forms as sounding natural.

  • larrydeluca

    larrydeluca

    Stupid question probably, but why is nasaru acceptable but ninaru is not?

Got questions about なさる? Join us to discuss, ask, and learn together!

Join the Discussion