Saying what something is

Goals

By the end of this part, you can…

Say what you do: your job, or what you study
Say what someone else does (〜は〜です)
Say where you work, and what country you are from

A conversation you can have in Japanese

TanakaI am Tanaka. I am an engineer.

YouNice to meet you. I am an office worker.

TanakaMs. Suzuki is a lawyer.

YouI see. I am Japanese.

In this part

Warm-up — vocabulary

Say it in Japanese

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Grammar 1

A Japanese sentence names the topic first and closes with です. は marks the topic — the thing the sentence is about — and です makes it polite. Nothing changes for I, you or she: the same です ends them all.

1See how it works

Pattern

A(topic)はwa B(polite)ですdesuA is B.

CarefulThe topic particle は is read wa here, not ha. It is the one place the kana is read differently.

Iわたしwatashi(topic)はwaoffice workerかいしゃいんkaishain(polite)ですdesuI am an office worker.Mr. Tanakaたなかさんtanakasan はwaengineerエンジニアenjinia ですdesuMr. Tanaka is an engineer.Ms. Suzukiすずきさんsuzukisan はwalawyerべんごしbengoshi ですdesuMs. Suzuki is a lawyer.

2Build the piecenoun → noun です

e.g.かいしゃいんkaishainoffice worker→かいしゃいんkaishainですdesuis an office worker

1いしゃishadoctor→いしゃishaですdesuis a doctor2エンジニアenjiniaengineer→エンジニアenjiniaですdesuis an engineer3こうむいんkoumuincivil servant→こうむいんkoumuinですdesuis a civil servant4にほんじんnihonjinJapanese→にほんじんnihonjinですdesuis Japanese

3Say it in Japanese

Mr. Tanaka is a teacher. たなかさんtanakasan はwa せんせいsensei ですdesu。I am a student. わたしwatashi はwa がくせいgakusei ですdesu。

Summary

This part at a glance

Grammar 1

Saying what something is

A はwa B ですdesu

わたしwatashi はwa かいしゃいんkaishain ですdesuI am an office worker.

Drill — fill in the blank

Choose the right word

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1. I am a student.わたしwatashi がくせいgakuseiですdesu。はwa2. Mr. Tanaka is a teacher.たなかさんtanakasanはwaせんせいsensei 。ですdesu3. Nina is an international student.ニナさんninasan りゅうがくせいryuugakuseiですdesu。はwa

Drill — translate

Write it in Japanese

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1. I am a student.わたしwatashiはwaがくせいgakuseiですdesu。2. Mr. Tanaka is a teacher.たなかさんtanakasanはwaせんせいsenseiですdesu。3. Nina is an international student.ニナさんninasanはwaりゅうがくせいryuugakuseiですdesu。

Reading — read it aloud

はじめまして

Mr. Tanaka and Ms. Suzuki meet at work for the first time.

たなかはじめまして。たなかhajimemashite。tanakaですdesu。

すずきはじめまして。すずきhajimemashite。suzukiですdesu。

たなかわたしwatashiはwaかいしゃいんkaishainですdesu。

すずきわたしwatashiはwaエンジニアenjiniaですdesu。

たなかわたしwatashiはwaにほんじんnihonjinですdesu。

すずきわたしwatashiはwaにほんじんnihonjinですdesu。

たなかよろしくyoroshikuおねがいonegaiしますshi masu。

すずきよろしくyoroshikuおねがいonegaiしますshi masu。

Reading — questions

Answer in Japanese

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1. たなかさんtanakasanはwaかいしゃいんkaishainですかdesu ka。はい、かいしゃいんhai、kaishainですdesu。2. すずきさんsuzukisanはwaエンジニアenjiniaですかdesu ka。はい、エンジニアhai、enjiniaですdesu。3. すずきさんsuzukisanはwaにほんじんnihonjinですかdesu ka。はい、にほんじんhai、nihonjinですdesu。

Part 2 →Asking questions