N5 Topics
L1: Welcome to Bunpro! 文プロへようこそ！
Make essential declarative sentences
Welcome to Bunpro! 文プロへようこそ！
Welcome to the start of the Bunpro learning path! The goal of this first Topic is to learn how to make declarative statements using the Japanese equivalents of ‘is’. This is fundamental to almost any language, and is achieved in Japanese through the use of だ and です.
The main difference between the two is simply politeness.
Don’t worry if you cannot read these sentences just yet! All sentences in Topic introductions are just for illustrative purposes. By the end of a Topic, you’ll have all the tools you need to handle anything that Topic covers.
Ready to begin? Let’s look at each grammar point in detail!
Grammar in this Topic
だ
To be, Is
For the most part, だ is the equivalent of 'is' in English. Its role is to strongly express determination or assertion. It is a casual grammar structure, which means that you won't see it in polite sentences.
Technically, だ is an auxiliary verb, a group of words that attach themselves to other words to give them meaning. です has the same role as だ, but です is the one that will be used in polite sentences, and is also one of the first Japanese grammar patterns many people are exposed to.
だ will always follow nouns, or words that behave like nouns, such as な-Adjectives.
Caution
Although です, the polite equivalent of だ, can be seen following い-Adjectives, だ itself will never be used directly after an い-Adjective.
Caution
While だ is often thought of as the 'casual form' of です, that is actually not entirely true. です is a polite speech word. The official 'formal version' of だ is である. We will learn this grammar point a bit later. である can often be seen in articles, and formal writing, while です is more common in polite speech.
です
To be, Is
Similarly to だ, です is an auxiliary verb that is an expression of determination or assertion. It states that something 'is' a certain way. です is considered to be the polite variation of だ. Keep in mind though that although their roles are similar, both だ and です are standalone structures.
です connects to words in exactly the same way as だ, but is also regularly seen attached to the end of い-Adjectives.
Caution
Although です is regularly attached to the end of い-Adjectives, some may actually consider this incorrect Japanese, and it should not be used in formal writing. In daily spoken language/texting, however, it is completely normal.
The above example technically should not be used in formal writing. Despite this, in recent years, it is starting to become the norm.
Details
In the Details section of each Topic, we'll expand on and compare concepts that we have just learned. We’ll also sometimes discuss related ideas. This time, let's look at two ways that Japanese grammar is actually simpler than English.
No 'a', 'an', or 'the'
You may have noticed that even though we have words like ‘a’, ‘an’, or ‘the’ in our English translations, the Japanese sentences don’t have an equivalent. In this way, Japanese is simpler than English.
This is because Japanese doesn’t have these words at all. Whether you’re talking about ‘a cat’ (general) or ‘the cat’ (specific), the word is just 猫 ‘cat’. The context will determine the nuance.
Subjects Are Often Optional
Here’s another thing that you may have noticed is missing. The subject!
In English, a sentence usually requires a ‘subject’ (often words like ‘I’ or ‘you’) to be grammatically correct. In Japanese, if the subject is obvious from context, it is usually left out. This is extremely common and often sounds much more natural than adding one.
Now, let’s look at a short reading passage that includes some of the vocabulary and grammar that we have just learned. Each new Topic will include one of these, so we recommend using them in order to confirm your understanding. Even at this early stage we are able to read short texts, so let’s try it out!
The Supermarket
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ケン：「肉だ！」
ケン：「スイカだ！」
ケン：「野菜だ！」
私：「大変です…」