Alright, so we got our three writing systems down... how do we use them to make a sentence?
Welcome to ✨grammar✨
Let's start with the most basic form of a sentence: A is B, or, A = B.
AはBです。
"A" is the subject of our sentence, and "B" is the predicate. In this sentence, we are indicating that "A" is "B." (No duh...)
But we are going to take a look at two things: what is between A and B, and what follows B.
は (pronounced "wa" now) is called a particle. It's a piece of grammar prevalent in many Asian languages that gives no real meaning of its own, but shows how the word correlates with the rest of the sentence. In this case, は is showing that A is the subject of this sentence. You must put it after the subject.
です (the "u" in す is barely pronounced, almost sounding like "dess") is roughly the equivalent of "is." You put this at the end of of the sentence or clause to show that A is in fact B.
So, for example:
I am Maroki-chan.
私はマロキちゃんです。
(Watashi wa maroki-chan desu)
Now try your name.
My name is ___.
私は[〇〇]です。
(Watashi wa [naninani] desu.)
Ayyy, you did it!
So how would you say "The cat is cute"? (Japanese has no articles, so don't worry about "the")
Cat - 猫 (ねこ)
Cute - かわいい
...
猫はかわいいです。
(Neko wa kawaii desu.)
G r e a t j o b.
One more.
How do you say "Milk is delicious"?
Milk - 牛乳 - (ぎゅうにゅう)
Delicious - おいしい
...
牛乳はおいしいです。
(Gyuunyuu wa oishii desu.)
A y y y y.
—————————
So, what about this kind of sentence?
Is A B?
This is a question now, but it still retains the premise of A = B. Here's how we would say it:
AはBですか？
(A wa B desu ka?)
So we have added a little か to the end. か in this sense is a question particle, put at the end to indicate that this sentence is asking a question.
(-) —— (-)
「マロキちゃんですか？」
"Are (you) Maroki-chan?"
「はい、マロキちゃんです。」
"Yes, (I) am Maroki-chan."
(-) —— (-)
