です, and saying what something is

With one word and です you can make a complete, polite Japanese sentence, and this lesson is where the kana you have learned start doing work. The pattern is small, it is the foundation of everything that follows, and it lets you introduce yourself, name the objects in front of you and say whose they are. Everything here is written in kana, so you can read every example aloud already.

A sentence in two parts

The basic sentence is a topic, the particle は, a second noun, and です.

わたし は がくせい です
watashi wa gakusei desu
I am a student

たなかさん は せんせい です
Tanaka-san wa sensei desu
Mr Tanaka is a teacher

これ は ほん です
kore wa hon desu
This is a book

The particle は marks the topic: it says "as for this", and everything after it is the comment. Notice that it is written with the character for ha but read wa, one of the three oddities from lesson one. This is the single most common spelling trap in beginner Japanese, and the rule has no exceptions: は standing alone between words is always wa.

Notice also what the pattern does not contain. There is no word for "a" or "the", because Japanese has no articles at all. There is no agreement of any kind: です is the same word whether the topic is you, a friend or a mountain. And the sentence ends with です, because Japanese puts the part that closes a statement at the very end, always.

What です actually is

It is tempting to translate です as "is", and for now that will get you the right English. It is more accurate to call it a polite ending: it attaches to the noun in front of it and marks the whole statement as polite. Its casual equivalent is だ, which you will hear constantly in films and among friends, and which you should not use with strangers.

Two practical consequences follow. First, です carries no meaning of its own about time or number, so わたし は がくせい です is equally "I am a student" and, in the right conversation, "we are students". Second, です is what makes you sound like a polite adult, so use it with anyone you have just met, in any shop, and with anyone senior to you. Dropping it is not casual friendliness, it is a small rudeness.

One more note from lesson three: です is pronounced almost as "des". The u at the end is devoiced and very nearly disappears, though the beat remains.

Leaving out what is obvious

Japanese omits anything the listener can already work out, and the topic is the first thing to go. If it is clear that you are talking about yourself, saying わたし は is unnecessary and, repeated, sounds oddly self-absorbed.

がくせい です
gakusei desu
I am a student

いしゃ です
isha desu
He is a doctor

Both sentences are complete and natural. The English translation has to supply a subject, but the Japanese does not, and context does the rest. This is why あなた, the word for "you", is used far less than English "you": with someone whose name you know, use the name, and otherwise leave it out entirely. Aimed at a stranger, あなた can sound cold or blunt.

の, the particle that joins nouns

の links two nouns, with the second one as the head. The pattern is A の B, and the commonest use is possession.

わたし の かばん
watashi no kaban
my bag

これ は わたし の かさ です
kore wa watashi no kasa desu
This is my umbrella

たなかさん の ともだち です
Tanaka-san no tomodachi desu
I am Mr Tanaka's friend

The order is the reverse of the English apostrophe: the owner comes first, then の, then the thing owned. It goes well beyond ownership, though, and covers almost any relationship one noun can have to another: origin, category, position, membership.

にほんご の せんせい
nihongo no sensei
a teacher of Japanese

とうきょう の ホテル
Tōkyō no hoteru
a hotel in Tokyo

You can chain them, and the chain reads from the outside in, so わたし の ともだち の かばん is my friend's bag. Two links is common, three is pushing it.

これ, それ and あれ

Three words cover pointing at things, and they divide the world by distance from the speaker and the listener rather than into a simple "this" and "that". これ is near me, それ is near you, and あれ is away from both of us.

これ は かぎ です
kore wa kagi desu
This is a key

それ は わたし の ほん です
sore wa watashi no hon desu
That is my book

あれ は ホテル です
are wa hoteru desu
That over there is a hotel

The middle one is the one to watch. If your listener is holding the thing, it is それ even though in English you would say "that", and reaching for これ in that situation is a giveaway.

Names and さん

Attach さん to somebody's name as a matter of course. It works for any gender and any marital status, and it usually goes on the family name, so Mr Tanaka is たなかさん. Using a bare name with no さん is what close friends and family do, and coming from a stranger it is rude.

The rule that catches everyone: never put さん on your own name. When you introduce yourself you are simply たなか. Saying たなかさん です about yourself is the equivalent of announcing "I am Mr Tanaka" while bowing to yourself.

やまださん は にほんじん です
Yamada-san wa nihonjin desu
Ms Yamada is Japanese

わたし の なまえ は アンナ です
watashi no namae wa Anna desu
My name is Anna

What learners get wrong

The three big ones are all interference from English. Do not add "a" or "the", because there is nothing to add them with. Do not treat は as the word for "is", because です does that job and は only marks what you are talking about. And do not reorder the sentence: the noun and です stay welded together at the end, whatever else you put in front of them.

The fourth is politeness rather than grammar. Beginners often mix casual だ into otherwise polite speech because they have picked it up from subtitles. Keep every sentence in です for now, and it will be right in every situation you are likely to meet.

Vocabulary