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I've heard various things about this construction from many different people, a few examples of which are:

  • It's a verb meaning "to be".
  • It's a contraction of something like でございます (de gozaimasu) or ではあります (de wa arimasu).
  • It just kinda appeared as a "polite" marker.

Could anyone here offer a succinct explanation of what it actually means?

Joe Z.
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    Be careful of the [etymological fallacy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymological_fallacy)! The etymology of a word is not always the same thing as "what it actually means". –  Jan 30 '13 at 12:56

1 Answers1

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I think to answer your question it needs to be broken into two parts, namely "what is です's etymology?" and "where is です used?".

Usage

You will see です used in two ways:

  • As the polite form of the copula だ. In this case, it has the meaning "to be" and acts mostly like a verb, in that it inflects.

    彼{かれ}はお医者{いしゃ}さんです。 "He is a doctor."

    ちょっと変{へん}でした。 "It was a little weird."

  • As a polite marker for i-adjectives. Historically, i-adjectives had a polite inflection, 〜うございます, which showed up as late as the 1960s, but it was thought to be "too polite" in many cases and was eventually discarded. However, the non-polite form was considered to be too impolite, so 〜です was added on the end as a polite marker. It is not the copula here and as a result does not inflect.

    楽{たの}しいです。 "It is fun."

    熱{あつ}かったです。 "It was hot."

Etymology

Although there are many theories about the origin of です, the common one among linguists I know is that it is a contraction of でございます. However there are competing theories (でそう、であります) and there is not yet a consensus about the correct one.

Community
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Darius Jahandarie
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  • I would write 〜うございます instead of 〜しゅうございます. – Zhen Lin Jan 29 '13 at 08:14
  • I agree, that's better, changed. – Darius Jahandarie Jan 29 '13 at 12:26
  • Hmm, according to Wikipedia, the copula だ is itself a contraction of である. – Joe Z. Jan 29 '13 at 21:39
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    Yes, historically だ came from である. However, keep in mind that in modern language they are not considered contractions, they are just different forms each having their own usage. である is still used in literary writing as the (terminal form of the) copula, and also as the adnominal form of the copula in even non-literary writing. – Darius Jahandarie Jan 29 '13 at 23:43
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    The [entry for です on 大辞林](http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?p=%E3%81%A7%E3%81%99&stype=0&dtype=0&dname=0ss) lists a few theories down at the bottom. It says: 「です」の語源については、「でそう（で候）」説、「でござります」説、「であります」説、その他があるが、まだ定説化されたものはない。 –  Jan 30 '13 at 12:59
  • If I am not mistaken だ came from であり, not である. であり was the EMJ copula and somehow retained り even in terminal position (it was highly irregular). At least according to a Japanese documentary about the history of Japanese, the author of 吾輩は猫である coined である by conjugating であり in a modern way. Interestingly, であります has a long history. – ithisa Jan 31 '13 at 03:30
  • As far as I know, there is no widely-accepted theory that "desu" comes from any one origin among linguists. Do you have a reference for that? – user18597 Feb 01 '13 at 02:48
  • @user18597 I don't have a reference online, no, but the Japanese linguists I've asked in the past have agreed it's most likely from でございます (or でござります to be more accurate about it). This is the specific historical explanation I've seen: degozarimasu > degozansu > deansu > densu > deisu > desu. Perhaps it's better to make the answer more encyclopedic? I'm not sure. – Darius Jahandarie Feb 01 '13 at 03:23
  • @DariusJahandarie Thank you for responding. As far as I know, some people take one view and other people take another view, but there is not consensus. – user18597 Feb 01 '13 at 05:17
  • @user18597 No problem. I decided it'd be better to at least mention the other theories in the answer (cc @snailplane). – Darius Jahandarie Feb 01 '13 at 05:22
  • So you'd never say 楽しいでした in favour of 楽しかったです? – Joe Z. Aug 01 '14 at 03:57
  • @JoeZ. That's right. – Darius Jahandarie Aug 01 '14 at 03:58