How politely to say "you"?


I found many variants in the internet, but they include `あなた`, which as I know
isn't polite and better not to say it to a stranger.

So, if I don't know the name/last name of the person, don't know the job
position (at work e.g.), how can I say politely `you`? Like: "Do `you` know?",
"Are `you` `<Name of the person>`?" etc.

And is it polite to ask person about his/her name? If you forgot it.




The first strategy is avoidance. No word for "you" is needed in either of your
examples: ご存知ですか。〇〇さんですか。

In other cases, the prefix 御 (お or ご) serves instead. ご出身は？お子さんが素敵ですね！

In _very_ rare cases where you actually do need to address someone, if you're
being formal, そちら can be used in some cases (especially in contrast with
oneself - like "and what about you?" そちらは？)

If you can't use そちら (it really sounds formal and distant), the strategies you
listed are all okay: あなた is fine towards strangers when you don't have a
better way of addressing them; asking for the name is perfectly fine when you
don't already know it.

If you forgot the name... it's equally awkward as in any language, I suppose.
You can always just bite down and 申し訳ありません、恥ずかしいですが、お名前を忘れてしまいました…？ (In an
informal situation, ごめんなさい、お名前は何でしたっけ？) Awkwaaard... but quite polite.




The first strategy is avoidance. No word for "you" is needed in either of your
examples: ご存知ですか。〇〇さんですか。

In other cases, the prefix 御 (お or ご) serves instead. ご出身は？お子さんが素敵ですね！

In _very_ rare cases where you actually do need to address someone, if you're
being formal, そちら can be used in some cases (especially in contrast with
oneself - like "and what about you?" そちらは？)

If you can't use そちら (it really sounds formal and distant), the strategies you
listed are all okay: あなた is fine towards strangers when you don't have a
better way of addressing them; asking for the name is perfectly fine when you
don't already know it.

If you forgot the name... it's equally awkward as in any language, I suppose.
You can always just bite down and 申し訳ありません、恥ずかしいですが、お名前を忘れてしまいました…？ (In an
informal situation, ごめんなさい、お名前は何でしたっけ？) Awkwaaard... but quite polite.

