でございますde gozaimasu“the polite form of to be”

でございます is the extra-polite version of です. It still means “is / am / are,” but it is the voice of hotel staff, department-store clerks, and anyone answering a business phone: こちらが受付(うけつけ)でございます — “This is reception.”

It is a JLPT N4 keigo pattern. You will rarely need to say it yourself in daily life, but you will hear it every time you walk into a shop in Japan, and the listening section expects you to understand it instantly.

でございます doesn’t raise or lower anyone. It simply turns the politeness of です up toward the listener.

What does でございます mean?

Grammatically, でございます does exactly the same job as です or casual だ: it links a subject to a noun or な-adjective. The only thing that changes is the level of politeness.

• お手洗いは二階だ。 — casual
• お手洗いは二階です。 — polite
• お手洗いは二階でございます。 — very polite, service language

All three mean “The restroom is on the second floor.” The English translation never changes; what changes is how carefully the speaker is treating the listener.

In keigo terms, でございます belongs to 丁寧語 (polite language), not to 尊敬語 (honorific) or 謙譲語 (humble). That is the most important fact about it. Honorific verbs like いらっしゃる raise the person you are talking about; humble verbs like いたします lower yourself. でございます does neither — it just makes the whole sentence more formal for the benefit of the person listening.

How to form でございます

Put でございます where you would normally put です: after a noun or a な-adjective stem. It conjugates like any ます-verb.

Two limits to remember:

• No い-adjectives. おいしいでございます is wrong. い-adjectives have their own old-fashioned polite form (おいしゅうございます), which you only need to recognise. In practice, staff just say おいしいです.
• No verbs. Verbs get politer through keigo verbs or お〜する, not through でございます.

The で in でございます is the same で as in では: でございます is historically で + ござる, just as である is で + ある. That is why the negative is ではございません, parallel to ではありません.

When is でございます used?

You will meet でございます in a small number of very predictable places:

• Shops, hotels, and restaurants. Staff describing products, prices, and locations: こちらは新商品(しんしょうひん)でございます.
• Answering the phone at work. はい、営業部(えいぎょうぶ)でございます — “Sales department, how may I help?”
• Introducing yourself formally. 私(わたくし)、担当(たんとう)の田中でございます. Note the pairing with わたくし, the formal “I.”
• Announcements. Stations and department stores use it for times and floor information.

Outside of these settings it sounds overdone. Using でございます with a classmate or a friend would come across as a joke or as sarcasm. With a teacher or a boss in ordinary conversation, plain です is already polite enough.

でございます example sentences

Notice who the subject is in every sentence: a place, a price, a product, or the speaker. None of them is the customer. That pattern is not an accident — see the nuance section below.

Nuance of でございます

Because でございます is only about politeness toward the listener, you can use it for yourself, your company, objects, and places. The trouble starts when the subject is the customer or another respected person.

Many native speakers feel that お客様(きゃくさま)は田中様でございますか is inappropriate, because でございます has a slightly humble flavour when used about people — it is the phrase you use to introduce yourself (山田でございます). For a customer, you need the honorific copula でいらっしゃいます: 田中様でいらっしゃいますか — “Are you Mr Tanaka?”

💡 Rule of thumb: things, places, prices, and yourself → でございます. The respected person you are talking to or about → でいらっしゃいます.

You will also hear でございます stacked with other politeness markers: お待(ま)たせいたしました。こちら、コーヒーでございます. The humble いたしました lowers the waiter; でございます keeps the whole exchange at the top of the politeness scale.

でございます vs でいらっしゃいます

Both are “very polite です,” and both end in ます, so learners mix them up constantly. The difference is who is the subject.

The contrast is easiest to hear in a hotel lobby: the clerk introduces herself with ~でございます and confirms your name with ~様でいらっしゃいますか. For the verb that sits behind でいらっしゃる, see いらっしゃる.

Common mistakes with でございます

Is でございます on the JLPT?

A typical question gives a clerk’s line with a blank — お客様(きゃくさま)、こちらがお部屋(へや)の鍵(かぎ)（　） — and the answer is でございます, because the subject is the key, not the guest.

Practice questions for でございます

Learning path for でございます

Related grammar to review next

• ございます — polite “there is / have”; the partner you most often confuse with でございます.
• いらっしゃる — the honorific verb behind でいらっしゃいます, used when the customer is the subject.
• いたします — humble “do”; appears in the same shop and hotel dialogues.
• だ・です — the plain and polite copulas that でございます upgrades.
• お〜になる — the regular honorific verb pattern for what customers do.

Learn でございます with Hane

Hane puts でございます, でいらっしゃいます and ございます into real shop and hotel dialogues, so you hear which one fits each subject. Practise N4 keigo in Hane.