Lesson 6: わたしは リンです

N5 · Lesson 6 · 25 min — Introduce yourself with "is / is not / ?"

In the last lesson, you learned greetings as whole phrases. From this lesson on, you'll build sentences yourself. With just one pattern, you can introduce yourself in Japan. Let's start with the 4-panel comic!

After this lesson, you can:

• Say your name, nationality and role with "わたしは〜です"
• Know that the particle は is read wa
• Ask questions with "〜ですか" and answer with はい／いいえ
• Say "is not ~" with "〜じゃありません"

Rin's Self-Introduction

First day of school. The cat Rin bumped into yesterday on the shopping street turns out to be the teacher!

「わたしは〜です」; add か for a question; use じゃありません to negate. Rin's goal: read Grandpa's letter with his own Japanese!

Words in this lesson

• わたし (watashi): I, me
• 〜さん (-san): Mr. / Ms. ~ (a polite title for other people)
• たなか (Tanaka): Tanaka (a common Japanese family name)
• 学生がくせい (gakusei): student
• 留学生りゅうがくせい (ryūgakusei): international student
• 先生せんせい (sensei): teacher
• 会社員かいしゃいん (kaishain): office worker (company employee)
• 日本人にほんじん (Nihonjin): Japanese (person)
• 台湾人たいわんじん (Taiwanjin): Taiwanese (person)
• ねこ (neko): cat
• はい (hai): yes
• いいえ (iie): no
• そうです (sō desu): yes, that's right
• ちがいます (chigaimasu): no, that's wrong / that's not it

Grammar 1 / 4: Grammar ①

Noun + です = a polite way to say "is ~". です goes at the end of the sentence.

• Pattern: A は B です: A is the topic (who you're talking about). B is the comment (what they are). Both A and B are nouns: names, roles, nationalities…
• です goes at the end: です comes after a noun and makes the sentence complete and polite. Japanese puts words like "is" or "do" at the end of the sentence, so です never sits in the middle like English "is".
• No さん on your own name: さん is a polite title for other people. To introduce yourself, say "わたしは リンです". Only use "リンさん" when talking to or about Rin.
• わたしは can be dropped when it's clear: When it's clear you're talking about yourself, just say "リンです". People drop it like this all the time in daily conversation.

• わたしは 台湾人たいわんじんです。 — I'm Taiwanese.
• わたしは 留学生りゅうがくせいです。 — I'm an international student.
• たなかさんは 会社員かいしゃいんです。 — Mr. Tanaka is an office worker.
• ねこ先生せんせいは ねこです。 — Neko-sensei is a cat.

Grammar 2 / 4: Grammar ②

は marks who or what the sentence is about. It's written は, but read wa.

• Written は, read wa: When は is a particle (right after a noun, marking the topic), it's read wa. Inside normal words (はい, はじめまして), it's still read ha. The は at the end of こんにちは and こんばんは from the last lesson was originally a particle too, so it's also read wa.
• Before は = the topic: Before は, put the person or thing the sentence is about. Think of it as "As for ~, …": リンさんは〜 = As for Rin, …
• は can also show contrast: When two sentences with different topics sit side by side, は gives the feeling "A is this, but B is that": リンさんは 学生がくせいです。ねこ先生せんせいは 先生せんせいです。

• わたしは 学生がくせいです。 — I'm a student.
• たなかさんは 日本人にほんじんです。 — Mr. Tanaka is Japanese.
• リンさんは 台湾人たいわんじんです。 — Rin is Taiwanese.
• リンさんは 学生がくせいです。ねこ先生せんせいは 先生せんせいです。 — Rin is a student; Neko-sensei, on the other hand, is a teacher.

Grammar 3 / 4: Grammar ③

Add か at the end to make a question. Answer with はい、そうです／いいえ、ちがいます.

• Add か at the end = question: Change です to ですか and the sentence becomes a question. You don't need to move any other words.
• Writing and saying questions: In formal Japanese writing, questions also end with "。". You don't always need "？". When you speak, your voice goes up on か.
• Answers: はい／いいえ: Right → はい、そうです。(Yes, that's right.) Wrong → いいえ、ちがいます。(No, that's not right.)
• After "no", give the right answer: いいえ、ちがいます。台湾人たいわんじんです。— Say "no" first, then the correct answer. The other person understands right away.

• リンさんは 学生がくせいですか。 — Is Rin a student?
• はい、そうです。 — Yes, that's right.
• たなかさんは 先生せんせいですか。 — Is Mr. Tanaka a teacher?
• いいえ、ちがいます。会社員かいしゃいんです。 — No, he isn't. He's an office worker.

Grammar 4 / 4: Grammar ④

Replace です at the end with じゃありません to say "is not ~".

• です → じゃありません: Change the です after a noun to じゃありません, and the meaning goes from "is ~" to "is not ~".
• じゃ = では, both are correct: じゃ is では said quickly. In speech, people mostly say じゃありません. In writing or formal situations, ではありません is more common. The は in では is also read wa (de-wa).
• Say "not", then add one more sentence: いいえ、日本人にほんじんじゃありません。台湾人たいわんじんです。— After saying "not", give the correct answer too.

• わたしは 日本人にほんじんじゃありません。 — I'm not Japanese.
• ねこ先生せんせいは 日本人にほんじんじゃありません。ねこです。 — Neko-sensei isn't Japanese. Neko-sensei is a cat.
• たなかさんは 学生がくせいではありません。会社員かいしゃいんです。 — Mr. Tanaka isn't a student. He's an office worker.