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Description
x は y です .
x wa y desu.
This is the (most) basic sentence structure you will probably see. The "x" in that sentence is the subject of the sentence. "は/wa" is a particle which marks the subject of the sentence. Notice how the hiragana "ha" is used instead of the hiragana "wa". This won't be the only time a particle does something similar (I'll go more into particles at a later time). But please remember to write "ha" but pronounce "wa". The "y" in that sentence is most often the object of the sentence. "Desu" is the verb of the sentence that means "is/am/are" depending on the sentence.

Now, you might be wondering "why is the verb at the end of the sentence?" Well, the simplest answer is that the Japanese have a different sentence structure than we use in English. Verbs will always go at the end of the sentence (of course there are exceptions, but that's more advance, for now, just focus on this.) The good news is that the verbs will always stay the same no matter if it is a female, male, group of people, etc. Don't get me wrong, there are conjugations, but those are for different reasons. (I'll post tutorials about them later.)

Here are some basic examples using that same sentence structure as above.

わたしはがくせいです。
Watashi wa gakusei desu.
When translated into English, this sentence means, "I am a student." "Wa" marking the subject "I". "Gakusei" being the object, (What "I" is) and "desu" at the end being the verb "am". Now you may have noticed an extra word in English, "a", when in the Japanese sentence, there is no "a" equivalent. That is true, and in fact, the Japanese don't actually have a word for "a". The word is implied/inferred but actually doesn't really exist.

Now when pronouncing that sentence, "desu" actually has a soft "u". "U" in itself is a very soft pronunciation in Japanese and is usually left out or very well hidden. Thus making "desu" pronounced "dess".

わたしはサムです。
Watashi wa Samu desu.
"Sam" is my name, but you can fill it with your own name.
わたしは＿＿＿です。
Watashi wa ___ desu.
I am ____.

たけしさんはせんせいです。
Takeshi-san wa sensei desu.
Ms. Takeshi (or just Takeshi for English, either or) is a teacher.

(Please review 'Suffixes for Names' here: learningjapanese.deviantart.co… if you do not understand the use of "san".)

Sentences can also not have the subject in them, (something we can't do in English), as long as the subject is known to the people talking.

わたしはサムです。
Watashi wa Sam desu.
がくせいです。
Gakusei desu.

Notice how the second sentence doesn't have the subject, "Sam". That sentence can be understood and more often than not, Japanese don't include the subject of a sentence. Why repeat yourself if it's already known, right?

There is also no plural in Japanese. Things are either stated earlier, implied, inferred, or assumed. So the sentence:
がくせいです。
Gakusei desu.
Can actually mean, "We are/you are/they are students" as well as "I am/you are/she/he is a student."

I highly suggest you practice by making your own sentences with the vocab from my gallery (learningjapanese.deviantart.co… ) and/or any other words you may know.

Description
x は y です .
x wa y desu.
This is the (most) basic sentence structure you will probably see. The "x" in that sentence is the subject of the sentence. "は/wa" is a particle which marks the subject of the sentence. Notice how the hiragana "ha" is used instead of the hiragana "wa". This won't be the only time a particle does something similar (I'll go more into particles at a later time). But please remember to write "ha" but pronounce "wa". The "y" in that sentence is most often the object of the sentence. "Desu" is the verb of the sentence that means "is/am/are" depending on the sentence.

Now, you might be wondering "why is the verb at the end of the sentence?" Well, the simplest answer is that the Japanese have a different sentence structure than we use in English. Verbs will always go at the end of the sentence (of course there are exceptions, but that's more advance, for now, just focus on this.) The good news is that the verbs will always stay the same no matter if it is a female, male, group of people, etc. Don't get me wrong, there are conjugations, but those are for different reasons. (I'll post tutorials about them later.)

Here are some basic examples using that same sentence structure as above.

わたしはがくせいです。
Watashi wa gakusei desu.
When translated into English, this sentence means, "I am a student." "Wa" marking the subject "I". "Gakusei" being the object, (What "I" is) and "desu" at the end being the verb "am". Now you may have noticed an extra word in English, "a", when in the Japanese sentence, there is no "a" equivalent. That is true, and in fact, the Japanese don't actually have a word for "a". The word is implied/inferred but actually doesn't really exist.

Now when pronouncing that sentence, "desu" actually has a soft "u". "U" in itself is a very soft pronunciation in Japanese and is usually left out or very well hidden. Thus making "desu" pronounced "dess".

わたしはサムです。
Watashi wa Samu desu.
"Sam" is my name, but you can fill it with your own name.
わたしは＿＿＿です。
Watashi wa ___ desu.
I am ____.

たけしさんはせんせいです。
Takeshi-san wa sensei desu.
Ms. Takeshi (or just Takeshi for English, either or) is a teacher.

(Please review 'Suffixes for Names' here: learningjapanese.deviantart.co… if you do not understand the use of "san".)

Sentences can also not have the subject in them, (something we can't do in English), as long as the subject is known to the people talking.

わたしはサムです。
Watashi wa Sam desu.
がくせいです。
Gakusei desu.

Notice how the second sentence doesn't have the subject, "Sam". That sentence can be understood and more often than not, Japanese don't include the subject of a sentence. Why repeat yourself if it's already known, right?

There is also no plural in Japanese. Things are either stated earlier, implied, inferred, or assumed. So the sentence:
がくせいです。
Gakusei desu.
Can actually mean, "We are/you are/they are students" as well as "I am/you are/she/he is a student."

I highly suggest you practice by making your own sentences with the vocab from my gallery (learningjapanese.deviantart.co… ) and/or any other words you may know.