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Onegaishimasu
Path: LinguisticsJapanese   · Prev: NeraiDiscussion   · Next: Osae
    Keywords: Culture & History

The correct polite Japanese phrase to one's opponent before starting to play: onegaishimas', 'if you please'.

More precisely: "I pray you...


Bill: I wonder what the onegai (request) is. "Please don't beat me too badly"? ;-)

Bisqwit: "Please do your best", "Please have a good game", "Please begin" (although it wouldn't make sense to say "please begin" to white)... I think it's just a common polite phrase to say when somebody is to start doing something. In the plain form ("onegai"), it can be used in negative, as "please don't ...", too.

kokiri I always took it for an abbreviation for 'yoroshiku onegaishimasu' as this is what you say when you meet someone for the first time, at new year etc


Sebastian: When exactly do you say this? Before or after nigiri? (I was trying to order the list in Go etiquette chronologically.)

RafaelCaetano: After nigiri.


Chestnut: onegai is the honorable or beautiful form of negai which is a "wish" (verb negau). shimasu is just the formal form of the verb suru which means "to do". So saying onegai shimasu is like saying "do me this favor". It's a common phrase in Japanese, and is what you generally will say to someone when they're going to do something for you or when you're asking them to do something for you. In greetings it's kind of like saying "please favor me with your attention" or something.



Path: LinguisticsJapanese   · Prev: NeraiDiscussion   · Next: Osae
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