Very Polite Requests
“Action always beats inaction.” – T. Harv Eker
Let’s branch away from 下さい a little bit while still using it as a base. 下さい is the pretty polite, but in the grand scheme of things it’s pretty neutral as well. In this page, you’ll learn how to make 下さい even more polite.
Do you remember what happens when you ask questions with ませんか？ For example:
a すし を たべませんか？
Will you not eat sushi?
a えいが を 見 に 行きませんか？
Will you not go to see the movie?
That right there is pretty polite, probably because it’s not very direct (less direct = more polite in Japanese, if you remember) and gives the other person plenty of ways to get out of doing that thing. This is sort of like that.
ください actually comes from the word くださる, which is the honorific version of くれる (which means something along the lines of ‘give me.’). You don’t actually need to know that, but you do need to somehow remember くださいませんか. If I were you, I’d just combine ください and ませんか into one Japanese-language Power Ranger Robot and call it a day, though do whatever works best for you.
くださいませんか, which can just replace ください, is basically just a much more polite way to request something. For example:
a にもつ を もって くださいませんか？
Would you please hold on to the luggage?
a てがみ を かいて くださいませんか？
Would you please write a letter?
a なす を たべて くださいませんか？
Would you please eat (your) eggplant?
If you find yourself in a situation where you need to be very polite, but still need to ask a request of someone, くださいませんか is the way to do it. Just remember ください and ませんか and you’ll be good to go. They’re both things you’ve learned in the past, so putting them together shouldn’t be too terribly difficult after you’ve recalled it a couple of times.