Beginning Japanese Phrases #211: です

About this episode

This episode covers the use of the polite copula です in Japanese grammar.

Today's podcast covers: です — is, am, are (polite copula) This is a polite copula used at the end of sentences to link a subject to a noun or adjective, similar to 'to be' in English. It marks a formal or polite speech level and is one of the most fundamental building blocks of Japanese grammar. Example: これはペンです。This is a pen. Vocabulary: これは — this (topic marker) ペンです — is a pen Become a Makoto+ member for bonus content: www.MakotoPlus.com

People in this episode

Host: TheJapanesePage.com

Topics covered

• Japanese grammar
• polite copula
• language learning
• sentence structure
• basic phrases

Keywords

• です
• Japanese phrases
• grammar
• polite speech
• language

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: TheJapanesePage.com

More episodes of TheJapanesePage.com - Beginning Japanese Phrases

• Beginning Japanese Phrases #213: 〜たいです (want to do something) · April 15, 2026 · 2 min
• Beginning Japanese Phrases #212: 〜てもいいですか (May I) · April 8, 2026 · 2 min
• Beginning Japanese Phrases #210: 〜たり 〜たりする (doing things like A and B, alternating or listing multiple actions) · March 26, 2026 · 2 min
• Beginning Japanese Phrases #209: 〜から (because, since, from) · March 19, 2026 · 2 min
• Beginning Japanese Phrases #208: 〜てはいけません (You must not do, it is forbidden to do (prohibition)) · March 12, 2026 · 2 min
• Beginning Japanese Phrases #207: こう (like this, in this way, thus) · March 5, 2026 · 2 min