おっしゃる is the 尊敬語 (honorific) verb for 言う（いう, "to say") — the form you use to elevate the speaking of a superior, a customer, or any esteemed third party. This page is the paradigm reference: every slot in its conjugation, laid out in one table, with the single irregularity flagged and every other form shown to be perfectly regular. If you want the usage insight — why Japanese asks your name through the verb "say," how おっしゃる pairs with humble 申す — that lives on the おっしゃる: Honorific Say page. Here we drill the forms.
The class it belongs to
おっしゃる is one of the five ラ行 special honorific verbs — いらっしゃる, おっしゃる, なさる, くださる, ござる — covered together on the -aru honorifics overview. Every verb in this club conjugates as an ordinary 五段 (godan) verb in all but one respect: its polite ます-form takes an irregular -い- stem (おっしゃい〜) instead of the -り- stem (×おっしゃり〜) that a normal 五段 verb ending in -る would give. Nail that one shift and the entire paradigm falls out mechanically.
The full paradigm
| Form (Japanese term) | おっしゃる | Reading | Regular? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dictionary (辞書形) | おっしゃる | ossharu | — |
| Polite (ます形) | おっしゃいます | osshaimasu | irregular -い- |
| Polite past | おっしゃいました | osshaimashita | irregular -い- |
| Polite negative | おっしゃいません | osshaimasen | irregular -い- |
| Negative (ない形) | おっしゃらない | ossharanai | regular 五段 |
| Past negative | おっしゃらなかった | ossharanakatta | regular 五段 |
| Past (た形) | おっしゃった | osshatta | regular 五段 (促音便) |
| te-form (て形) | おっしゃって | osshatte | regular 五段 (促音便) |
| Conditional (仮定形・ば) | おっしゃれば | osshareba | regular 五段 |
| Volitional (意向形) | おっしゃろう | ossharō | regular 五段 (rare) |
| Imperative (命令形) | おっしゃい | osshai | irregular / archaic |
おっしゃいます — the everyday form and the one irregularity
The form you will actually say ninety percent of the time is the polite おっしゃいます. It is irregular: a plain 五段 verb built on おっしゃ‑ would predict ×おっしゃります, and that form is simply wrong. The り collapses to い before ます — the shared signature of all five ラ行 honorifics.
お名前は何とおっしゃいますか。
o-namae wa nan to osshaimasu ka
What is your name, please? (lit. 'how do you say your name?')
先ほどおっしゃいましたご予算の件ですが、確認させてください。
sakihodo osshaimashita go-yosan no ken desu ga, kakunin sasete kudasai
About the budget you mentioned earlier — let me just confirm it. (polite past + relative clause)
この件について、部長はまだ何もおっしゃいません。
kono ken ni tsuite, buchō wa mada nani mo osshaimasen
The department head hasn't said anything yet about this matter. (polite negative)
The te-form and past are regular 五段
Because おっしゃ‑ ends in -る, its te-form and past follow the ordinary 促音便 (small-つ) change that -う/-つ/-る verbs undergo — exactly like 取る → 取って/取った. So the te-form is おっしゃって and the past is おっしゃった, with no surprises.
先生がそうおっしゃったので、その通りにしました。
sensei ga sō osshatta node, sono tōri ni shimashita
The teacher said so, so I did exactly that. (plain past おっしゃった)
部長は、明日は在宅勤務だとおっしゃっていました。
buchō wa, ashita wa zaitaku kinmu da to osshatte imashita
The department head was saying he'll work from home tomorrow. (te-form + progressive, relaying speech)
お客様が何とおっしゃっても、笑顔で対応します。
o-kyakusama ga nan to osshatte mo, egao de taiō shimasu
No matter what the customer says, I respond with a smile. (te-form + concessive ても)
The negative and conditional stems
The negative stem is the regular 五段 おっしゃら〜 (おっしゃらない, おっしゃらなかった), and the conditional is おっしゃれば. These come up constantly in relaying and reasoning about a superior's words.
社長がおっしゃらないなら、私からは何も申し上げません。
shachō ga ossharanai nara, watashi kara wa nani mo mōshiagemasen
If the president won't say it, I won't say anything from my side either. (negative おっしゃらない, contrasted with humble 申し上げる)
先生がそうおっしゃれば、みんな納得するでしょう。
sensei ga sō osshareba, minna nattoku suru deshō
If the teacher says so, everyone will surely be convinced. (conditional おっしゃれば)
The imperative おっしゃい — and why you rarely use it
The bare imperative is おっしゃい (again the -い-, not ×おっしゃれ). But there is a catch that makes the whole slot a curiosity rather than a workhorse: you almost never command a superior, and where you do want to invite an esteemed person to speak, modern Japanese uses the polite request frame おっしゃってください ("please tell me") instead of the blunt おっしゃい. The bare おっしゃい survives mainly in fixed, slightly archaic phrasing.
ご遠慮なく、何でもおっしゃってください。
go-enryo naku, nan demo osshatte kudasai
Please don't hold back — tell me anything at all. (te-form + ください, the natural 'please say' form)
もう一度おっしゃっていただけますか。
mō ichido osshatte itadakemasu ka
Could you say that once more, please? (the polite way to ask someone to repeat)
Direction of respect: it elevates the listener's speech only
A paradigm table can't enforce this, so keep it in mind: おっしゃる honors the speaker of the quoted words — the customer, the boss, the teacher. It can never describe your own saying. Your side's "say" drops to the humble 申す／申し上げる. Pairing おっしゃる with a first-person subject is the single most common register error, and the full honorific ⇄ humble map is on the honorific–humble–plain master table.
山田とおっしゃる方から、お電話がございました。
Yamada to ossharu kata kara, o-denwa ga gozaimashita
There was a call from someone named Yamada. (おっしゃる elevating a third party's name)
Common mistakes
Mistake 1 — the regularized ます-stem ×おっしゃります / ×おっしゃりました. The defining irregularity of the whole ラ行 class.
❌ 先生は何とおっしゃりましたか。
Wrong ます-stem — the honorific takes the irregular -い-: おっしゃいました, not ×おっしゃりました.
✅ 先生は何とおっしゃいましたか。
sensei wa nan to osshaimashita ka
What did the teacher say?
Mistake 2 — wrapping 言う in a template instead of using the special form. 言う has a dedicated honorific, so the productive お〜になる pattern is not used.
❌ 課長がそうお言いになりました。
Wrong — 言う has the special honorific おっしゃる; the template ×お言いになる is not used for this verb.
✅ 課長がそうおっしゃいました。
kachō ga sō osshaimashita
The section chief said so.
Mistake 3 — using おっしゃる about your own speech. Self-elevation; your "say" is humble.
❌ 私が先ほどそうおっしゃいました。
Self-elevation — you can't honor your own speaking. Use humble 申す／申し上げる about yourself.
✅ 私が先ほどそう申し上げました。
watashi ga sakihodo sō mōshiagemashita
I said so a moment ago. (humble, about oneself)
Mistake 4 — building a request out of the bare imperative ×おっしゃれ. Even the correct imperative おっしゃい isn't how you ask a superior to speak.
❌ 意見があれば、おっしゃれ。
Wrong on two counts — the 五段-style ×おっしゃれ isn't the imperative (it's おっしゃい), and you don't command a superior. Use おっしゃってください.
✅ ご意見があれば、おっしゃってください。
go-iken ga areba, osshatte kudasai
If you have an opinion, please tell me.
Key takeaways
- おっしゃる is the honorific of 言う and conjugates as a 五段 verb with one exception: the ます-stem is the irregular おっしゃいます (never ×おっしゃります).
- The polite series — おっしゃいます・おっしゃいました・おっしゃいません — all carry the -い- shift; everything else is regular 五段.
- te-form おっしゃって, past おっしゃった (促音便), negative おっしゃらない, conditional おっしゃれば — all textbook 五段.
- The imperative is おっしゃい, but in practice you invite speech with おっしゃってください, not a bare command.
- おっしゃる elevates the listener's or a third party's saying only; your own "say" is the humble 申す／申し上げる.
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Start learning Japanese→Related Topics
- The -aru Honorifics: Special 〜います StemsN3 — Five honorific verbs end in -る — いらっしゃる・おっしゃる・くださる・なさる・ござる — and share one quirk: before ます (and in the imperative) the り-row stem softens to -い-, giving いらっしゃいます, not ×いらっしゃります.
- Suppletive 尊敬語 Verbs: TableN3 — The special respectful verbs that replace the plain verb wholesale — いらっしゃる, 召し上がる, ご覧になる, おっしゃる, なさる, くださる, ご存じだ — with their plain bases, their irregular 〜います polite forms, and why you must never re-honorify them with お〜になる.
- 尊敬語⇄謙譲語⇄Plain: Master Pair TableN3 — The keystone desk-reference pairing each everyday verb with its 尊敬語 (raise the other person) and 謙譲語 (lower yourself), across plain, honorific, humble, and です／ます — and the rule that direction of respect, not politeness level, picks the column.