hanashimasu

Hanashimasu is the polite non-past form of the Japanese verb hanasu (話す), which means to speak, to talk, or to tell. It is a transitive godan verb and is widely used in everyday conversation to describe speaking with someone or telling something to someone.

Conjugation and forms commonly encountered include: dictionary form hanasu; polite non-past hanashimasu; polite past hanashimashita; negative polite hanashimasen; te-form hanashite; and potential forms such as hanaseru (to be able to speak) and its polite counterpart hanasemasu. The past tense of the potential form is hanasemashita. As with many Japanese verbs, additional forms express various nuances of tense, mood, and politeness.

Usage and syntax typically involve particles to indicate the recipient, the medium, or the topic. To talk with someone, one uses X to talk with Y with the particle to or with, often in phrases like Xと話す. To tell someone something, one might say Xに話す or Xに話します, sometimes with the content introduced by words like について or を for the thing being told. For example, 私は友だちと日本語で話します (I talk with a friend in Japanese). 彼女に秘密を話しました (I told her a secret).

Relation to related words: the noun 話 (hanashi) means a talk, story, or speech, and shares the same root. The verb hanasu and the noun hanashi are closely connected in usage and meaning, but they appear in different grammatical roles.

In Japanese learning, hanasu and its polite form hanashimasu are foundational for expressing speaking, conversations, and narratives in everyday communication.