いらっしゃる

Japanese edit

Etymology edit

Originally a contraction of いらせらる (iraseraru), itself an honorific conjugation of 入ら (ira, the 未然形 (mizenkei, imperfective) of verb iru, “to come in, to go in; to arrive; to be in a place”) + (se, the 未然形 (mizenkei, imperfective) of honorific auxiliary verb su) + らる (raru, the older form of passivizing auxiliary verb rareru, here serving as another honorific).[1][2]

Pronunciation edit

  • Tokyo pitch accent of conjugated forms of "いらっしゃる"
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Terminal (終止形)
Attributive (連体形)
いらっしゃる らっしゃ [ìrássháꜜrù]
Imperative (命令形) いらっしゃい らっしゃ [ìrássháꜜì]
Key constructions
Passive いらっしゃられる らっしゃられ [ìrássháráréꜜrù]
Causative いらっしゃらせる らっしゃらせ [ìrássháráséꜜrù]
Potential いらっしゃれる らっしゃれ [ìrássháréꜜrù]
Volitional いらっしゃろう らっしゃろ [ìrássháróꜜò]
Negative いらっしゃらない らっしゃらない [ìrássháráꜜnàì]
Negative perfective いらっしゃらなかった らっしゃらなかった [ìrássháráꜜnàkàttà]
Formal いらっしゃいます らっしゃいま [ìrássháímáꜜsù]
Perfective いらっしゃった らっしゃった [ìrássháꜜttà]
Conjunctive いらっしゃって らっしゃって [ìrássháꜜttè]
Hypothetical conditional いらっしゃれば らっしゃれば [ìrássháꜜrèbà]

Verb edit

いらっしゃる (irassharuintransitive godan (stem いらっしゃり (irasshari) or いらっしゃい (irasshai), past いらっしゃった (irasshatta))

  1. (honorific) to go
    • 1994, Yasuo Uchida, 三州吉良殺人事件 [Sanshū Kira Satsujin Jiken, Murder in Kira, Sanshū], Tōkyō: Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co., Ltd, →ISBN, page 28:
      (まご)(むすめ)()をよじらんばかりに(きょう)(しゅく)して、「あの、これからどちらへいらっしゃるのでしょうか?」と()いた。
      Magomusume wa mi o yojiran bakari ni kyōshuku shite, “ano, kore kara dochira e irassharu no deshō ka?” to kiita.
      The granddaughter asked, so shyly that she was practically writhing, "Um, where might you be going next?"
  2. (honorific) to come
    • 1933, Tatsuo Hori, 美しい村 [Utsukushii Mura, Beautiful Village]‎[1], Aozora Bunko:
      でも(いっ)(たい)(なん)()ごろあなた(がた)はこちらへいらっしゃるのかしら?
      De mo ittai, nanji goro anatagata wa kochira e irassharu no kashira?
      But then, around what time would you be coming, I wonder?
  3. (honorific) to be
    (やま)()さんはいらっしゃいますでしょうか。
    Yamada-san wa irasshaimasu deshō ka.
    Is Ms. Yamada there? (such as when telephoning a place of business)
    (げん)()いらっしゃいますか。
    O-genki de irasshaimasu ka.
    Are you doing well?

Usage notes edit

As listed above, いらっしゃる (irassharu) may be roughly synonymous with () (iku, to go), () (kuru, to come) or いる (iru, to be). Which meaning is intended depends on context. Compare () (oide) of similarly broad and context-dependent meaning.

Conjugation edit

Synonyms edit

Derived terms edit

References edit

  1. ^ 1988, 国語大辞典(新装版) (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
  2. 2.0 2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006) 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN