to do (honorific)
Structure
- する → なさる
- 料理する → 料理 なさる
Remember not to use honorific language when speaking about yourself and your actions!
Used in honorific language instead of する.
Hey,
For this sentence:
あの人ひとを信用___か
I feel that ～していらっしゃいます it should be accepted as a correct answer instead of ~なさっていらっしゃいます which just sounds like too much (doble honorific).
Let me know what you think, thanks!
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Hey 
You are right, していらっしゃいます is now accepted.
Cheers!
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Can someone walk me through this question?
何なにを なさろう とするんですか。
Maybe I’ve just never heard it said in casual speech, but I don’t understand the “とする” part and why it is necessary. All I’ve ever heard casually is “どうしよう” or “どうするの” so to me it seems like the “とする” part is redundant, and a bit strange to have a casual verb in the same sentence as honorific. Can someone help me out?
@snugglesnacks Hey! Thank you for your inquiry. I believe that the source of confusion comes from the fact that this sentence uses an advanced grammar structure that has not yet been covered. 〜ようとする is a grammar structure meaning “to try to” or “to attempt.” Therefore, なさろうとする means “to try to do.” The んです at the end signifies that the speaker is asking for further explanation. We will need to get this sentence replaced since it uses a grammar point from N3. In the meantime, I will link 〜ようとする to this sentence. I apologize for the confusion and the inconvenience. Cheers!
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Okay! Thanks for the explanation. I noticed that the grammar was tagged in blue in my reviews today, so thanks for the quick fix 
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Could someone remind me why the polite conjugated continuous past form of なさる is なさっている and not なさっていました?
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Hey 
なさっていました is conjugated polite past form.
You can also say:
なさっていたん（or の)です
but it might have an explanatory nuance.
I hope it helps,
Cheers!
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Thanks for answering, mrnoone - though I’m a little confused because I thought んです was acting to indicate an explanation in the sentence I’m looking at:
子供のころスポーツを なさっていた んですね。
So in this case, implying something like “and that’s why I’m talking to you” or “and that’s why I’d like to hear about your opinion on sport”
But you’re saying that it’s an alternative conjugation, just like with the alternative negative past form for verbs:
e.g.
食べなかったです／食べませんでした
In which case, does it completely lose the kind of nuance that のです／んです usually carries when it ends a sentence? Also, is it grammatically wrong or at least awkward to write:
子供のころスポーツをなさっていましたんですね。
3 Likes
I meant it as a grammatically correct example where you could use the short form, the politeness is marked by ん (の)です instead of ます. I wasn’t relating to the meaning though. Sorry for the confusion. 
Basically, I was answering this (and tried to give similar, but correct example):
The proper answer is, なさっている is not the polite conjugated continuous past form. なさっていました is, but なさっていたのです can be used (with a bit different nuance, that you mentioned), which also uses short form (like なさっている) and might have been what you meant.
But, it still has to be in the past form (just なさっている is not ok) and politeness marker is still needed.
And you are right. When it comes to meaning, it likely expresses explanation (or simple emphasis).
This is incorrect, the short form has to precede the ん・のです。
I hope it is understandable, because I myself got confused too haha 
Cheers!
4 Likes
Thanks for taking the time to give such a clear and thorough explanation - I understand it a lot better now!
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I am really glad!
I was scared I wrote it in a confusing way
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I still don’t understand why “the short form has to precede the ん・のです”
When did we learn that なさっていた is the short form and that it must precede the んです?
is なさっていたんです grammatically wrong?
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なさっていたんです is grammatically correct, なさっていました is also grammatically correct.
The short form is another name for the plain form, opposed to long form - polite form。
Short form: 行く、来る、食べる、なさる、なさっている、なさっていた
Long form: 行きます、来ます、食べます、なさいました、なさっています、なさっていました
As a rule of thumb, the politeness (with some exceptions like が、けれども and sometimes けど、から、ので) is marked only at the end of sentence. So if it is already marked in the end, you don’t have to use the polite form in other clauses in this sentence.
子供のころスポーツをなさっていたんですね。Good
No need to use another polite form in this sentence, since politeness is already marked by んです。
（子供のころスポーツをなさっていましたんですね。No need for なさっていました ）
But there are exceptions, like が:
難しいですが、頑張ります。Good
Even though 頑張ります is used, the phrase before が also has to be in polite form.
難しいが、頑張ります。 Not good.
You are right, it has to be mentioned!
I hope it helps! Feel free to ask more!
Cheers!
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What is the purpose of the casual conjugations when using honorific language?
It seems strange. I tried using a casual conjugation on honorific language on another grammar point, and it was considered sub-optimal for that very reason. So I am just wondering what possible situation it is suitable?
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Hey 
Very or more like, EXTREMELY good question!
First of all, the “casual form” might be a bit misleading. Let’s think of it as a “short form”.
You can use it when for example you talk about a person you want to exalt, but you talk with your friend (ます expresses politeness to a person you are talking)
友達に教師について：「先生はどうなさったの？」
Another case would be when the honorific expression modifies a noun.
武先生は、田中さんと手紙のやりとりをなさったことがおありですか？
etc
I hope it helps,
Cheers
3 Likes
@mrnoone this is a great way of explaining. I was trying to think of a way to answer this question yesterday but couldn’t think of a clear way to put it so I decided against posting.
You do hear this fairly often in the office so it’s fair to say that it’s pretty common to use the dictionary form.
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Sorry to add to an already extensive thread, but I can’t find anywhere that says んです is a…politeness indicator, for lack of a better term. Or is it purely due to the choice of です over だ?
I’m currently going through Genki 2 (2nd ed) and I’m a bit confused about する/なさる + ている.
With ている, the grammar in Genki 2 has examples
a) for special honorific verbs as [honorific verb]ている, e.g. ご覧になっています, and
b) for verbs lacking a special honorific as [verb]ていらっしゃいます, e.g. 話していらっしゃいます.
After that, I’d expect している to become なさっている, but the following exercise (chapter 19, exercise 1C) has two cases where it conjugates to していらっしゃる:
- 結婚していますか becomes 結婚していらっしゃいますか
- 勉強していますか becomes 勉強していらっしゃいますか
Would なさっていますか be valid? Are they both valid? Is there any difference?
edit: I tasked my tutor, and while she has no idea why Genki uses one over the other, she considers both forms as sounding natural.
Stupid question probably, but why is nasaru acceptable but ninaru is not?