{"id":3182,"date":"2018-11-20T13:25:41","date_gmt":"2018-11-20T13:25:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/?p=3182"},"modified":"2020-03-08T15:06:10","modified_gmt":"2020-03-08T15:06:10","slug":"verb-to-be-japanese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/zh-hans\/verb-to-be-japanese\/","title":{"rendered":"Lesson 17. The Complete Guide to Verb TO BE in Japanese"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"To
To Be in Japanese<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u3067\u3059 (desu), which is a polite speech marker<\/a>, works like the present<\/u> affirmative version of the copula in Japanese. It has the closest meaning of the verb \u2018to be\u2019<\/a> or the dummy subject \u2018it is\u2019<\/a> in English. Let\u2019s learn about ways to express \u3067\u3059 (desu), in polite and plain forms, and also present and past tenses!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nPolite Form<\/strong><\/td>\nPlain Form<\/strong><\/td>\nTranslation<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Positive, Present<\/strong><\/td>\n\u3067\u3059<\/p>\n

(desu)<\/td>\n

\u3060<\/p>\n

(da)<\/td>\n

am, is, are<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Positive, Past<\/strong><\/td>\n\u3067\u3057\u305f<\/p>\n

(deshita)<\/td>\n

\u3060\u3063\u305f<\/p>\n

(datta)<\/td>\n

was, were<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Negative, Present<\/strong><\/td>\n\u3067\u306f\u3042\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093<\/p>\n

(dewa arimasen)<\/p>\n

\u3058\u3083\u3042\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093<\/p>\n

(ja arimasen)<\/td>\n

\u3067\u306f\u306a\u3044<\/p>\n

(dewa nai)<\/p>\n

\u3058\u3083\u306a\u3044<\/p>\n

(ja nai)<\/td>\n

am not, is not, are not<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Negative, Past<\/strong><\/td>\n\u3067\u306f\u3042\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3067\u3057\u305f<\/p>\n

(dewa arimasen deshita)<\/p>\n

\u3058\u3083\u3042\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3067\u3057\u305f<\/p>\n

(ja arimasen deshita)<\/td>\n

\u3067\u306f\u306a\u304b\u3063\u305f<\/p>\n

(dewa nakatta)<\/p>\n

\u3058\u3083\u306a\u304b\u3063\u305f<\/p>\n

(ja nakatta)<\/td>\n

was not, were not<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Note: \u3067\u306f (dewa) sounds more formal than \u3058\u3083 (ja). In daily conversation, Japanese use \u3058\u3083 (ja) most of the time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Even though \u3067\u3059 (desu) is always placed at the end of the sentence, it does not mean that \u3067\u3059 (desu) marks the end of a sentence. Remember that the word order of the complete sentence in Japanese is:<\/p>\n

Structure: Subject + Object + Verb<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Examples:<\/p>\n

\u5f7c\u306f\u533b\u8005\u3067\u3059\u3002<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kare wa isha desu.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He is<\/strong> a doctor.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u5f7c\u306f\u5de6\u5229\u304d\u3060\u3002<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kare wa hidari kiki da<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

He is<\/strong> left-handed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u6614\u3001\u3053\u3053\u306f\u5b66\u6821\u3067\u3057\u305f\u3002<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mukashi, koko wa gakk\u014d deshita.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once upon a time, it was <\/strong>a school.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u4eca\u671d\u306f\u30de\u30a4\u30ca\u30b94\u5ea6\u3060\u3063\u305f\u3002<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kesa wa mainasu yon-do datta.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was<\/strong> 4 degrees below zero (-4o<\/sup>) this morning.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u3053\u308c\u3089\u306f\u30a2\u30ea\u3067\u306f\u3042\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002<\/strong><\/p>\n

Korera wa ari dewa arimasen.<\/strong><\/p>\n

These are not <\/strong>ants.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u3042\u306e\u4eba\u306f\u793e\u9577\u3058\u3083\u3042\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ano hito wa shach\u014d ja<\/strong> arimasen.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That man is not<\/strong> the president.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u3053\u308c\u306f\u6f14\u5287\u3067\u306f\u306a\u3044\u3002<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kore wa engeki dewa<\/strong> nai.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is not<\/strong> a theater.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u4e00\u4eba\u3058\u3083\u306a\u3044\u3002<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hitori ja<\/strong> nai.<\/strong><\/p>\n

(You) are not<\/strong> alone.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u3084\u3063\u3071\u308a\u624b\u7d19\u3067\u306f\u3042\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3067\u3057\u305f\u3002<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yappari tegami dewa arimasen<\/strong> deshita.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As I expected, it was not<\/strong> a letter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u305d\u306e\u30b7\u30e3\u30c4\u306f\u304d\u308c\u3044\u3058\u3083\u3042\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3067\u3057\u305f\u3002<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sono shatsu wa kirei ja arimasen deshita.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That shirt was not<\/strong>\u00a0clean.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u5f7c\u3089\u306f\u5e78\u305b\u3067\u306f\u306a\u304b\u3063\u305f\u3002<\/strong><\/p>\n

Karera wa shiawase dewa nakatta.<\/strong><\/p>\n

They were not<\/strong> happy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u305d\u308c\u306f\u7c21\u5358\u3058\u3083\u306a\u304b\u3063\u305f\u3002<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sore wa kantan ja nakatta.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That was not<\/strong> easy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Let\u2019s learn Japanese today! Join us at LingoCards<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u3067\u3059 (desu), which is a pol…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":3183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[200],"class_list":["post-3182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-japanese","tag-to-be","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3182"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4117,"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3182\/revisions\/4117"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}