102 Am, is, are です

There is a whole lot of desu です going on. 

It is pronounced as if there is no letter u at the end: DES. 

It means “am, is, are” depending on the subject, the person or the thing.  It ALWAYS comes at the end of a sentence in Japanese. 

Oh, hang on a minute… 

not all sentences in Japanese end with “desu” of course; 

just as all sentences in English don’t have the word “am”, or “is” in them. 

Let’s have a look at these examples:

えき　です。eki desu.  (It) is (the) station.

でんしゃ　です。densha desu.  (It) is (the) train.

たぬき　です。tanuki desu.  (It) is (a) raccoon.

やきとり　です。yakitori desu.  (It) is yakitori.

ちず　です。chizu desu.  (It) is (a) map.

 

ひこうき　です。hikōki desu.   (It) is (a) plane.