Speak Japanese: Phrases to Use on an Airplane
- In This Quick Guide:
- Making Requests
- XYZ-ni Shi-masu
- The TE-Form Request
- Polite Requests You Might Hear
Chances are, on a flight to Japan, the people surrounding you are Japanese speakers. Some of the flight attendants might also be Japanese natives or be fluent in Japanese. Don’t waste time; talk to them! In this guide, you will learn the basic Japanese phrases that will make your flight more enjoyable.
Making Requests
In the Quick Guide Speak Japanese: Useful Phrases, you learned a basic expression to use when making a request. Here it is:
Onegai shimasu. “Please (do it).”
If you want to make your request more polite, add sumimaseN at the beginning:
SumimaseN, onegai shimasu. “Excuse me, please (do it).”
Onegai shimasu is a multipurpose request expression. If you have a dinner tray in front of you and you want a flight attendant to take it away, you can point to it and gently say Onegai shimasu. Simple, isn’t it? Using body language and pointing at an object, onegai shimasu is a powerful tool for expressing what you want.
XYZ-ni Shi-masu
What would you do in the following situation? As a meal is being served, you are asked which one you would prefer, Japanese tea (ocha) or coffee (kōhī):
Ocha-ni shi-masu ka, kōhī-ni shi-masu ka? “Japanese tea, or coffee?”
Suppose that you want to drink Japanese tea, ocha. Using onegai shimasu, you can make a request as follows:
Ocha-o onegai shimasu. “Japanese tea, please.”
By just adding XYZ-o to the expression as shown previously, the range of a request can be expanded. You no longer have to point to an object or use body language. With XYZ-o, you can even ask an attendant to bring something to you.
Instead of onegai shimasu, you can use the verb XYZ-o kudasai, “Please give me XYZ.” For example:
Kōh1ī-o kudasai. “Please give me some coffee.”
The TE-Form Request
The new request pattern you’re about to learn makes extensive use of the TE-form, as seen here:
TE-form + kudasai. “Please do so-and-so.”
With this pattern, you will be able to make a variety of requests. For example, let’s ask your friend to come. The verb is ki-masu and its TE-form is ki-te. So the request sentence looks like this:
(SumimaseN,) ki-te kudasai. “(Excuse me,) please come.”
Look at the following list of verbs that can be used while in flight:
| In-Flight Request Verbs | ||
|---|---|---|
| English | MASU-form | TE-form |
| bring | motte ki-masu | motte ki-te |
| take X away | motte iki-masu | motte it-te |
| clear the tray | torē-o sage-masu | torē-o sage-te |
| throw away | sute-masu | sute-te |
| take; grab; pick up | tori-masu | tot-te |
| open | ake-masu | ake-te |
| close; shut | shime-masu | shime-te |
Here are some realistic examples of some requests using each of the preceding verbs. They could be used to request something from both a nearby passenger or a flight attendant.
You can probably think of several things that you want a flight attendant to bring to you. Let’s ask her to bring water (mizu) because you’re thirsty:
SumimaseN, mizu-o motte ki-te kudasai. “Excuse me, please bring water.”
You finish eating the meal. Suppose that the flight attendants forgot to take your tray away. Using a pointing word, kore (“this thing”), say the following:
(Pointing at the tray) Kore-o motte it-te kudasai. “Please take this away.”
You can also use torē-o sage-masu, “clear the tray”:
Torē-o sage-te kudasai. “Please clear the tray.”
Yes, torē is a loanword for “tray.”
Suppose that your seat pocket is full of trash (gomi). How would you ask an attendant to throw it away for you? You’re causing the attendant to do extra work for you, so be sure you add the magic word, sumimaseN:
SumimaseN, gomi-o sute-te kudasai. “Excuse me, please throw away the trash.”
You can make your request even politer by adding an extra phrase at the end of the -te kudasai pattern:
TE-form + kudasai maseN ka? “Could you please do so-and-so?”
Let’s change the previous examples to the politer versions:
SumimaseN, mizu-o motte ki-te kudasai maseN ka? “Excuse me, could you please bring (me) water?”
Torē-o sage-te kudasai maseN ka? “Could you please clear the tray?”
SumimaseN, gomi-o sute-te kudasai maseN ka? “Excuse me, could you please throw away the trash?”
Polite Requests You Might Hear on the Airplane
Politeness is important in Japanese, especially in a situation in which service is rendered. You, a passenger, are an important customer, so flight attendants will speak to you very politely, especially when they ask a favor of you. You won’t have to say the following expressions; just be familiar with them in case you use a Japanese airline, especially a domestic flight in which Japanese is the primary language.
Shīto beruto-o o-shime kudasai. “Please fasten your seatbelt.” (shime-masu = “fasten”)
Zaseki-o moto-no ichi-ni o-modoshi kudasai. “Please set the seat back to the original position.” (zaseki = “seat”; moto-no ichi-ni “to the original position”; modoshi-masu = “set back”)
Torē-o moto-no ichi-ni o-modoshi kudasai. “Please set the tray back to the original position.”
Tenimotsu-wa zaseki-no shita-ni o-oki kudasai. “Please put your carry-on item under the seat.” (tenimotsu = “carry-on item”; oki-masu = “put; place”)
You might have noticed that the preceding request patterns are different from the one you’ve learned. The form of this more polite request is …
O + Verb Stem + kudasai “Please do so-and-so.” (polite request)
Some requests made by a flight attendant are in negation, as in “Please do not do so-and-so.”
Tabako-wa goeNryo kudasai. “Please refrain from smoking.”
Toire-no go-shiyō-wa goeNryo kudasai. “Please refrain from using the bathroom.” (go-shiyō = “use”)
DeNshi kiki-no go-shiyō-wa goeNryo kudasai. “Please refrain from using electronic devices.” (deNshi = “electronic”; kiki = “device”)
XYZ-wa + goeNryo kudasai “Please refrain from XYZ.” (polite request)
Armed with these phrases you will be able to make yourself understood, and by the time you arrive in Japan, you will be more confident about your communication skills. For more help with your Japanese, check out our Quick Guides Speak Japanese: Useful Phrases and Learn Japanese: Signs and Symbols. Have a great trip!
From The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Conversational Japanese, Second Edition, by Naoya Fujita, Ph.D.
