The verb ‘to be’ — Pocket Japanese

です

Is/ am/ are

The verb 'to be'.

ですdesu

More simply...

It's usually translated to English as "to be".
In Japanese, the verb 'to be' is not conjugated. Therefore, です means ‘is, am and are’.

Because です is a verb, it comes at the end of the sentences!

Let’s look at some examples:

  Hiragana Chart
  
      かのじょRomaji: kanojoEnglish: SheはがくせいRomaji: gakuseiEnglish: Studentです。
She is a student.
      かれらRomaji: kareraEnglish: TheyはRomaji: waEnglish: Topic markerがくせいRomaji: gakuseiEnglish: Studentです。
They are students.
     
      私Romaji: watashiClass: KanjiEnglish: IはRomaji: ha (pronounced wa)Class: HiraganaEnglish: Topic markerせんせいRomaji: senseiClass: HiraganaEnglish: Teacheeです。
I am a teacher.

You may have noticed a strange は in the sentences! It’s not equals! We’ll explain this particle in the next part!

せんせい’s notes:

As a native English speaker with very little knowledge of languages before studying Japanese, I always wondered what they meant by the verb ‘to be’.

As mentioned above, it’s generally seen as ‘is, am or are’ in English. However, a fun way of looking at it would be.. a pirate!

By that I mean, how a pirate might not say ‘is/am/are’, but instead use ‘be’.

"Arr, ye be a fine crew."

“She be a student.”

“He be a teacher.”