Best way to say someone has died....

I know that in Japanese there are many ways in which to say that someone has died. But what is the most common/polite way of saying something has died? For example how I could say something like My Granfather may die soon or if he does how would I say My Grandfather has died.

"NAKUNARU" is common expression that means "pass away".

ex) My grandpa has died since last year.
= WATASHI NO SOHU HA SAKUNEN(or KYONEN) NAKUNARI MASHITA.

My=WATASHI NO
grandpa=SOHU HA (HA is a particle)
last year=SAKUNEN(or KYONEN)
has died=NAKUNARI MASHITA
(No Japanese word means "since" in this case.)

In case that your grandpa will soon die, in Japan,
usually we don't dare mention it.
Just saying like this in Japanese,
"My grandpa has been ill",
"I haven't seen my grandpa for a long time because of his illness."
I mean, just show some connotation that his death will come soon.

Isn't it "INAKUNARIMASHITA"??

"Nakunaru" is for things, so it's quite impolite, if I'm not mistaken........

あれっ？ Confused... ^^;


If you say: (Watashi no) sofu ha kyonen shindeshimaimashita.

What's with that?
Would it be impolite?

I even found that: http://eow.alc.co.jp/%09%e7%a5%96%e7%88%b6/UTF-8/

Hope, the site will be able to be opened.
On the site is another example of saying "My grandfather has passed away yesterday" [祖父が昨日他界しました。Sofu ga kinou (=yesterday) takai shimashita], but I'm not sure, whether that is common.

"inakunaru/inakunarimasu" is "disappear" in the sense for someone to "go missing." This word is not used in the sense of someone passing away.

"shinde shimaimashita" is... too direct and thus not used for people - some people might use it to refer to pet animals and such.

"takai suru/shimasu" is a formal way to say it - if you are referring to your own relatives/family member who have passed away, for example, and you are saying it to your boss, teacher, etc., yes, this would be suitable.

I got really confused about it, so thank you very much AK!!
That helped a lot!!!! :)

Yes, TAKAI SHIMASHITA is correct, too.

If I could show the nuance,
"TAKAI SHIMASHITA" means "go to the Heaven".
Because "TA" means "another",
"-KAI" means "world".
("SHIMASHITA" means a verb.)

"INAKUNARIMASHITA" means "gone away".
So you may think it's also OK, but in Japanese, "INAKUNARIMASHITA" just means that living people go to somewhere (and aren't here).
Not used for died people.

Kubozuka

無くなる(for things) and 亡くなる (for men) are the same pronunciations(nakunaru).