Japanese ます Form for Daily Routines

Polite Japanese: Your Routine, Tomorrow, and Yesterday

To describe your morning politely, start with a time expression and finish with a verb: 毎朝コーヒーを飲みます。（まいあさ コーヒーを のみます。） “I drink coffee every morning.” Japanese usually puts the verb last. You can leave out “I” when the speaker is obvious. The ending ます makes the statement polite; it does not mean that the action is happening right now.

Four Forms, One Verb

Learn these four forms of 飲む（のむ）, “drink.” Non-past covers habits and future actions; the time expression and context tell you which meaning applies.

Starting from 飲みます, keep 飲み and replace the ending. But do not simply attach ます to a dictionary form. Compare 飲む → 飲みます（のむ → のみます）, 食べる → 食べます（たべる → たべます）, する → します, and 来る → 来ます（くる → きます）. Verb groups determine the stem; learn the dictionary and polite forms together. These verb endings are already polite: do not add です after them.

Habit, Plan, or Past Event?

• 毎朝コーヒーを飲みます。（まいあさ コーヒーを のみます。） “I drink coffee every morning.” This is a routine.
• 明日はコーヒーを飲みません。（あしたは コーヒーを のみません。） “I won’t drink coffee tomorrow.” This is a future intention.
• 昨日はお茶を飲みました。（きのうは おちゃを のみました。） “I drank tea yesterday.”
• 昨日はコーヒーを飲みませんでした。（きのうは コーヒーを のみませんでした。） “I didn’t drink coffee yesterday.” Use the past negative for this finished past period, not 飲みません.

This is not the same as ongoing -ています: 今、コーヒーを飲んでいます。（いま、コーヒーを のんでいます。） means “I’m drinking coffee now.” Do not translate every English “am doing” with ます. Conversely, English “I’m going tomorrow” can express a plan, so Japanese non-past can fit. The ています pattern also has other uses beyond actions in progress.

Time and Particles Stay Together

毎日、午前七時に起きます。（まいにち、ごぜん しちじに おきます。） “I get up at seven a.m. every day.” Here に marks a clock time. 毎日 means “every day” and normally takes no に; 明日（あした）, “tomorrow,” and 昨日（きのう）, “yesterday,” also stand without it. Do not turn this into “every time word needs に.” Weekdays can take に or appear without it; は can make a day the topic or contrast it with another day.

家で朝ご飯を食べます。（いえで あさごはんを たべます。） “I eat breakfast at home.” で marks where the action happens; を marks what you eat. 会社へ行きます。（かいしゃへ いきます。） “I go to work.” へ marks direction; に is also possible for the destination. Particles は, へ, を are pronounced wa, e, o.

Ask a Clear Question

日曜日 alone can leave “this Sunday or Sundays generally?” unclear. Choose an explicit time frame:

• 明日は何をしますか。（あしたは なにを しますか。） “What will you do tomorrow?”
• 毎週日曜日は何をしますか。（まいしゅう にちようびは なにを しますか。） “What do you do every Sunday?”

Add か to ask a polite question. In an answer, retain the relevant time frame and choose the ending accordingly.

Turn a Routine into Yesterday’s Report

Suppose your usual breakfast is at home, but you skipped it yesterday. Your routine is 家で朝ご飯を食べます。（いえで あさごはんを たべます。） “I eat breakfast at home.” Yesterday’s report is 昨日は朝ご飯を食べませんでした。（きのうは あさごはんを たべませんでした。） “I didn’t eat breakfast yesterday.” The routine and the exception can both be true. A negative past sentence does not mean you never eat breakfast.

Notice that Japanese changes the verb ending where English introduces “didn’t.” It does not insert a separate word before an unchanged verb. Before speaking, ask two questions: is this a habit or plan, or a report about the past? Did the action happen, or not? Those two choices locate the form in the table. Then check the time, place, and object particles separately.

Practice

1. From 飲みます, write the non-past negative, past affirmative, and past negative.
2. Fill each blank with に, で, を, or nothing: 毎日（　）午前七時（　）起きます。家（　）朝ご飯（　）食べます。
3. Translate “I didn’t drink coffee yesterday.” Use 昨日は and a polite verb.
4. For “What do you do every Sunday?”, choose 明日は or 毎週日曜日は before 何をしますか。

Sources and Further Study

Grammar checked against the Japan Foundation’s Irodori Starter, Lesson 9: daily schedules and TUFS Language Modules: non-past, past and past negative, verb groups, time particles, and ongoing actions. Examples and exercises here are original teaching examples. Japanese lesson index.