Day Four: Desu

It is

Desu. If you have had any experience with Japanese, it is extremely likely that you have come across desu in one way shape or form since it is one of the most common words in Japanese. Desu です, or the informal da だ, are the same thing and they both play a very important role in sentence formation. That is, they actualize what is marked as the topic by は. です is often translated to mean ‘is‘ but be careful with direct translations. The feeling/meaning behind ‘is‘ is correct in this instance, however. In other situations, です can be translated as ‘are‘ and ‘am‘.  

だ/です at it’s core, is a state of being or existence. This is used in place of a verb or adjective when a verb or adjective isn’t used to end a sentence. There are a handful of ways in which a sentence can be completed properly in Japanese, one of them being だ/です. 

Examples of this include:

“I am John – わたし　は　ジョン　です。

“He is 2 years old” – かれ　は　にさい　です 。

“I am Japanese” – ぼく　は　にほんじん　です。 

“This food is sushi” – この　たべもの　は　すし　です。

This can be somewhat tricky to get used to at first, but it’s one of those things that makes more sense the more you see it. On top of this, a common method of using は is in conjunction with です. 

A は B です 

A is B.

*While Japanese does not typically include spaces, I am added them for clarity. 

*Desu is often pronounced ‘dess’; the u is unvoiced in general speech, but is sometimes heard in more feminine speech.