お〜です details
hurry + honorific — states the esteemed person's present state in the shortest honorific shape there is
o isogi desu
honorific — states the esteemed person's present state in the shortest honorific shape there is
meaning: hurry
お客様、会員証はお持ちですか。
okyakusama, kaiinshou wa o mochi desu ka.
Excuse me, do you have your membership card with you? formal
何かお探しですか。よろしければお手伝いいたします。
nanika o sagashi desu ka. yoroshikereba o tetsudai itashimasu.
Are you looking for something? I'd be glad to help. formal
- alternant
- formal
- past
- negative
Examples
do you have; are you — asking or stating the present state of a customer, a guest or a superior
お客様、会員証はお持ちですか。
okyakusama, kaiinshou wa o mochi desu ka.
Excuse me, do you have your membership card with you? formal
何かお探しですか。よろしければお手伝いいたします。
nanika o sagashi desu ka. yoroshikereba o tetsudai itashimasu.
Are you looking for something? I'd be glad to help. formal
部長は今日、もうお帰りだ。
buchou wa kyou, mou o kaeri da.
The department head has already left for the day. formal
先生は来週から海外にお出かけです。
sensei wa raishuu kara kaigai ni o dekake desu.
The professor will be away overseas from next week. formal
Formation
お{V-masu-stem}ですattaches to ます-stem
Variant notes
- お〜だ — the plain-style shape, used ABOUT an esteemed person rather than to them — 部長はもうお帰りだ。
- お〜でしょうか — softer than ですか and the counter-service default — 何かお探しでしょうか。
Notes
what you have on you now. For a one-off act, the honorific is お〜になる
(お読みになりました).
Related patterns
Similar
お〜になる reports the ACT and can name any point on its timeline (お帰りになりました); お〜です reports the STATE the act has left, so it asks about right now — which is why counter staff reach for the shorter お決まりですか, though お決まりになりましたか is equally correct.
〜ている is the ordinary way to say a state holds, and it raises nobody; お〜です does the same job while raising the person it describes, which is why ていらっしゃる and お〜です compete for the same sentence and 〜ています cannot be used about a customer's state.
Lookalikes
The same お+stem shell pointing at two different people — お持ちします offers to carry it FOR the esteemed person, お持ちですか asks whether THEY have it; swapping them offers to carry your own bag for yourself.
Combines with
One of the honorific routes for a verb, alongside お〜になる and れる/られる — and the only one that shortens rather than lengthens, which is why counter staff reach for it all day.