Lesson 1: Is, Am, Are - です

Goal: 
In this lesson, you will learn a few nouns, and how to say that an object is one of these nouns.

New Vocabulary

• ダイス Dice  
• ペン  Pen
• テーブルTable
• えんぴつ Pencil
• ほん Book
• いす Chair
• かみ Paper
• コンピューター Computer
• です Is/Am/Are

New Grammar

Sentence Structure: Verbs

• Verbs generally come at the very end of a sentence in Japanese.

です

• ですis a verb. It means “is”, “am”, and “are”
  
• It is pretty much only used as the “equal sign” meaning: X=Y
  
• • It is not used as in “I am eating” or “He is driving a car”

Plurality

• Japanese generally does not bother with plurality. This can be confusing.
  

Examples

ダイスです。 “(It) is a die” *
かみです。 “(It) is paper” *
テーブルです。 “(they) are tables” *
ほんです。 “(They) are books”  *
コンピューターです。 “(Those) are computers”  *
いすです。 “(It) is a chair”  *

*** Notice that the words “It”, “They”, and “Those” are not actually in the sentences.***

• These words are implied through context. In English we need to specify what we are talking about in the sentence. However, in Japanese it is not always necessary.

Practice

(1) Look at the following images and, in Japanese, write down what they are. Then practice speaking the sentences outloud. I recommend telling your pets what the items are. Yes, your dog will look at you funny, but he'll enjoy the attention.

(2) Translate the following sentences into Japanese. Remember that "they", "it", and "I" are not actually in the sentence.

• “(it’s) a pen” ______________________________________________


• “(They) are computers” ______________________________________________
  


• “(I) am a book”   ______________________________________________
  


• “(It) is paper”   ______________________________________________
  


• “(They) are chairs” ______________________________________________
  


• “(They) are pencils” ______________________________________________
  


• “(It) is a die”    ______________________________________________