100283
With u/ru-verbs, one can easily make the humble form as such: “読む” ->
“お読みいたします” or “ご到着いたします", but I'm at a loss as to how to make these forms for
sentences that end on an adjective or noun. How does one turn, say “これが好きだ”
into the humble form? The respectful form can easily be achieved with
something like “ご主人様はこれがお好きです”. Surely something such as “眠くおありいたします” would
not actually work? as the humble form of “眠い”
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2023-07-13T08:38:46.697
100274
2023-07-14T03:37:36.990
2023-07-14T03:37:36.990
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question
grammar keigo
Humble form (謙譲語) of i/na-adjectives and nouns?
There is no humble form for adjectives. Honorific and humble forms are
basically only for actions.

Actually, it is possible to add (～て)いらっしゃる to describe someone's state
honorifically:

  * 先生は健康でいらっしゃいます。
  * 先生はチェスが(お)好きでいらっしゃいます。
  * 先生はとても美しくていらっしゃいますね。

So it should be fair to expect a humble equivalent to this, but unfortunately,
there is none. If you really need something politer than just saying です, that
would be [ございます](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/765/5010):

  * 私は健康でございます。
  * 私はチェスが好きでございます。
  * 私は眠うございます。

But this is technically not a humble form in the first place, and this form
has become rare today. While there are still a few elderly people who actively
use this form, very few use it in modern business conversations. Practically,
when describing your own state, ～です is enough in nearly all cases. (Still, you
may want to pay attention to [i-adjective +
です](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/68969/5010), which is still sometimes
seen as unsophisticated. And ～がございます meaning "there is ～" is still relatively
common.)
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2023-07-14T02:32:48.697
100283
2023-07-14T02:32:48.697
5010
100274
answer