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Generally, in all Japanese language classes, the rule you're taught is that です
does not follow い adjectives. Instead, い adjectives can act like stative
verbs, and as such terminate a sentence by themselves. However, I have heard
this usage frequently. I don't necessarily have a specific example in mind
that I've heard, because it doesn't seem all that rare.

However, recently I got into a discussion with someone who suggested that い
adjective + です is dangerous, and has the potential to be offensive and/or rude
when used incorrectly so foreigners should avoid it. One specific example
given was `美しいです` sounding vulgar. They also said that い adjective + だ is flat
out ungrammatical in all situations. When I've posed this same question to
other Japanese speakers, they take no issue with 美しいです and they say it sounds
fine.

My question is, there seems to be some disagreement. Does anyone have a
definitive answer about why such a disagreement might exist, and how I should
go about knowing whether or not it's safe to use い adjective + です in normal
usage? Or maybe people here also have no issue with it, and think that the
original person I spoke to was perhaps mistaken.

If it's not safe, then what do I do if I want to end a sentence with an い
adjective politely? Follow it with ～のです perhaps?
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2011-07-10T08:00:25.143
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usage grammar politeness i-adjectives copula
correctness of い adjective + です
'です' does follow i-adjectives. It's purpose is to add politeness. I see no
problem with it, but maybe I am missing something. Was there a particular
example that was discussed when the person said it is dangerous? The only
thing I can think of is that the expression can be made milder by adding the
sentence final particle `ね`, which indicates addresser's expectation of the
addressee's agreement.

> 美しいです 'It is beautiful.'
>
> 美しいですね 'It is beautiful, isn't it?'

'のです' will change the meaning. It implies that it is an explanation to or
expansion on something mentioned in the previous context.

> 美しいのです 'It is the case that it is beautiful' (Perhaps following a context:
> 'I like this place'. Then, it would be imply: 'The reason for it is
> because')

`i-adjective + だ` is ungrammatical in standard Japanese, but it may be used in
some Tohoku dialects.
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2011-07-10T08:27:05.780
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Following an い-adjective with です is perfectly acceptable, as in the following
examples:

>   * あの人はひどいです。
>   * 昨日は楽しかったです。
>

I don't see any vulgar aspect to 美しいです failing contextual clues that could
make nearly _any_ description vulgar.

Something that may be getting confused in all of this is that while the
_polite_ form of an い-adjective is followed by です -- e.g. さむいです -- the _plain_
form is **not** followed by だ. So the plain form of さむい is just さむい. The
examples above would be, in plain form, as follow:

>   * あの人はひどい。
>   * 昨日は楽しかった。
>

のです is different again, and while polite, adds an air of explaining something.
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2011-07-10T08:28:31.693
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Err, I don't agree with your initial statement. I think that generally you are
taught that い adjectives _are_ followed by です.

I think that it is _never_ dangerous to say "美しいです" and that you _should_ put
a です all the time, until you reach enough confidence to know when you may drop
it, and just say 美しい.

However, い-adj + だ is basically just wrong. There are situations where this
can be heard, but it's mostly when talking to farmer in a deserted rural area
(to express how harsh and uneducated it may sound).
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2011-07-10T08:32:29.453
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い adjective + です was originally a slang used by people who were not familiar
with standard Japanese and only recently (1952) officially accepted. Still
now, it's not considered really sophisticated, in my oppinion. Only
[おいしゅうございます](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/765/78) etc were correct
until then.

And there is a comment that says it's standard in Tohoku dialect, but that is
not true at all. That's actually a common misconception that many speakers of
other regions hold. He obviously is mixing it with dialects of north-east
Kanto. (Note that Miyagi is linguistically not Tohoku but north-east Kanto)
Or, he may have misheard sentence-ending particle でゃ of Tohoku dialects.
あと、吉幾三の「おら東京さ行ぐだ」はいわゆるネタですから。
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