What Does Desu Mean in Japanese? です for Beginners

You meet someone for the first time and want to say I’m a student. Then you want to point at your cup and say This is coffee. Two short sentences cover both:

1. がくせいですGakusei desu.I’m a student.
2. これはコーヒーですKore wa koohii desu.This is coffee.

Both sentences end in です (desu). In everyday speech its final u is often very light, so it can sound like “des”; How to Pronounce Desu and Masu in Japanese covers that sound. This lesson is about what です does in a sentence.

The short answer

Beginners often learn that です means “is” or “am.” That works as a rough first translation, but it becomes confusing quickly. A better mental model is this: です helps you make a polite statement about what someone or something is. It comes at the end of the statement. So instead of translating です as one English word every time, learn the basic shape:

In this lesson, the “what it is” part is a noun, such as がくせい (gakusei, student) or ほん (hon, book). You will also meet です after adjectives, as in おいしいです (oishii desu, “It’s tasty”), but noun sentences are the place to start.

Put a noun before です

Suppose someone asks whether you are a student. A complete polite answer needs only the noun and です:

Japanese does not need to include “I” when it is already obvious that you are talking about yourself.

If you do state the topic explicitly, you add わたしは at the front:

Each part has its own job:

1. わたしwatashiI / me
2. はwamarks what you are talking about
3. がくせいgakuseistudent
4. ですdesucompletes the polite statement

The sentence does not line up word for word with English. Its useful structure is the topic, then the noun with です:

は (wa) adds the sense of “as for” or “speaking of,” so “As for me | student” is a literal gloss to show the structure, not something you would say in English. To see how は fits with the other core particles, read What Are Japanese Particles?.

In natural English, all of that is simply I’m a student. The same shape works for anyone. If Ken is a teacher, the important information is せんせい (sensei), “teacher,” and です (desu) completes the polite statement:

Reuse the frame and only the nouns change; です stays at the end:

1. わたしはがくせいですWatashi wa gakusei desu.I’m a student.
2. ケンさんはせんせいですKen-san wa sensei desu.Ken is a teacher.
3. これはほんですKore wa hon desu.This is a book.

Use です to identify things

Imagine someone points to an unfamiliar object and asks what it is. You answer with これは, the noun, and です:

Split it into its parts:

1. これkorethis
2. はwamarks the topic
3. ほんhonbook
4. ですdesucompletes the polite statement

Change only the object, and you can name a bag or coffee the same way:

1. これはかばんですKore wa kaban desu.This is a bag.
2. これはコーヒーですKore wa koohii desu.This is coffee.

The reusable pattern is this frame. With it, you can identify things even with a small vocabulary:

Use the same structure to say what someone is

You can also identify a person by role or category: Ken as a student, Maria as a teacher, or yourself.

1. ケンさんはがくせいですKen-san wa gakusei desu.Ken is a student.
2. マリアさんはせんせいですMaria-san wa sensei desu.Maria is a teacher.
3. わたしはがくせいですWatashi wa gakusei desu.I’m a student.

Notice that です does not change depending on the person. English changes: I am, you are, Ken is. Japanese keeps です in each case, so these two sentences end the same way:

1. わたしはがくせいですWatashi wa gakusei desu.I’m a student.
2. ケンさんはがくせいですKen-san wa gakusei desu.Ken is a student.

Why です is not simply “is”

If です literally meant only “is,” this sentence would translate as “I is a student.” That is not how the two languages correspond:

The same ending appears after Ken and after a book, while English needs different forms such as “am,” “is,” and “are”:

1. ケンさんはがくせいですKen-san wa gakusei desu.Ken is a student.
2. これはほんですKore wa hon desu.This is a book.

That is why the safer beginner idea is this: です completes a polite statement about what something is. Then translate the whole Japanese sentence naturally into English.

Where です does not go

This is an important limit. You may learn that Japanese sentences often end in です and start adding it everywhere. But an action sentence already ends with a polite verb:

1. すしをたべますSushi o tabemasu.I eat sushi.
2. たべますtabemasueat / will eat

Do not turn it into すしをたべますです (sushi o tabemasu desu). You do not need です after たべます. The same goes for the negative ～ません form: わかりません (wakarimasen) does not need です either.

Compare a noun sentence, where がくせい (gakusei) is a noun and です completes the statement, with a verb sentence that already has its polite ending:

1. がくせいですGakusei desu.I’m a student.
2. たべますTabemasu.I eat. / I will eat.

For now, keep these two beginner sentence shapes separate: noun + です and verb ending in ～ます (masu). Later you will see です after some other forms too, such as adjectives, but it does not go after a ～ます verb.

The first of these next two sentences tells us what someone is; the second tells us what someone does:

1. がくせいですGakusei desu.I’m a student.
2. にほんごをべんきょうしますNihongo o benkyou shimasu.I study Japanese.

That gives you a useful beginner distinction between the two shapes:

1. がくせいですGakusei desu.I’m a student.
2. べんきょうしますBenkyou shimasu.I study.

Do not assume every English sentence containing “am,” “is,” or “are” tells you exactly where Japanese needs です. Learn Japanese sentence patterns as Japanese patterns. For example, “There is a book” uses あります (arimasu), not です; see how to say “there is” in Japanese.

Turn a statement into a question

Once you have a statement, you can make a polite question by adding か (ka) at the end:

1. ケンさんはがくせいですKen-san wa gakusei desu.Ken is a student.
2. ケンさんはがくせいですかKen-san wa gakusei desu ka.Is Ken a student?

If you ask the person in front of you, you can drop the name. In that context the short question usually means “Are you a student?”:

A statement about a book works the same way. The core statement remains ほんです (hon desu), and か turns it into a question:

1. これはほんですKore wa hon desu.This is a book.
2. これはほんですかKore wa hon desu ka.Is this a book?

This is one reason learning the noun + です structure is so useful: the same sentence can quickly become a basic question.

You do not always need は before です

A beginner may learn A は B です (A wa B desu) and assume every sentence with です must contain は (wa). But context can make part of the sentence unnecessary. When someone asks whether you are a student, you can answer without わたしは:

1. がくせいですかGakusei desu ka.Are you a student?
2. はい、がくせいですHai, gakusei desu.Yes, I’m a student.

You do not need わたしは (watashi wa), because everyone already knows who the question is about. Japanese often leaves out “I” and “you” when they are clear; Why Japanese Drops “I” and “You” explains how this works.

Similarly, when someone asks what something is, the answer can be short because “this” is already understood:

1. AこれはなんですかKore wa nan desu ka.What is this?
2. BほんですHon desu.It’s a book.

So do not treat A は B です as a rule saying every piece must always appear. Treat it as a useful full sentence frame that can become shorter when context supplies the missing information.

A short conversation

You meet someone at a language class. They ask about you, then you point out Ken, and finally they ask about a book on the table:

1. AがくせいですかGakusei desu ka.Are you a student?
2. Bはい、がくせいですHai, gakusei desu.Yes, I’m a student.
3. BケンさんはせんせいですKen-san wa sensei desu.Ken is a teacher.
4. AこれはほんですかKore wa hon desu ka.Is this a book?
5. Bはい、ほんですHai, hon desu.Yes, it’s a book.

Notice how the same ending works across different situations: がくせいです (gakusei desu), せんせいです (sensei desu), and ほんです (hon desu).

Once you know the noun, です lets you turn it into a simple polite statement.

Common mistakes

Putting です after every word

You want to say “I’m a student.” Following English word by word (“I am | a student”), a beginner might give each idea its own です: わたしですがくせいです (watashi desu gakusei desu). That is wrong for this meaning.

Japanese does not build the sentence by attaching です to each idea. (As two separate sentences, わたしです。がくせいです。 (Watashi desu. Gakusei desu.) would mean “It’s me. I’m a student.”, which is a different message.)

The polite ending belongs once, at the end of the statement:

1. がくせいですGakusei desu.I’m a student.
2. わたしはがくせいですWatashi wa gakusei desu.I’m a student.
3. これはほんですKore wa hon desu.This is a book.

Moving です into the middle

English says “This is coffee,” with “is” between “this” and “coffee,” so a beginner might put です in the middle too: これですコーヒー (kore desu koohii). That is wrong for “This is coffee.” The Japanese sentence waits until the end:

1. これはコーヒーですKore wa koohii desu.This is coffee.
2. これはコーヒーですkore wa koohii desuthis (topic) coffee です

This is part of a larger Japanese pattern: important sentence endings often come after the information they complete.

Adding です after ～ます

A verb that already ends in ます does not take です. Of たべます。 and たべますです。, only the first is correct:

For a noun, the opposite is true: of がくせい。 and がくせいです。, the simple polite statement is the second.

Keep the two patterns distinct: がくせい + です (gakusei + desu) and たべ + ます (tabe + masu).

Practise です

Build the sentence

Say “This is coffee,” one piece at a time. Start with “this,” mark it as the topic, add what it is, and finish the polite statement:

1. これkorethis
2. これはkore wathis (as the topic)
3. コーヒーkoohiicoffee
4. ですdesucompletes the polite statement

Put together, the complete sentence is:

Now change only the noun:

1. これはほんですKore wa hon desu.This is a book.
2. これはかばんですKore wa kaban desu.This is a bag.

You can build many simple sentences before learning complicated grammar.

Choose the natural sentence

1. Which means “Ken is a student”? A. ケンさんはがくせいです。 (Ken-san wa gakusei desu.) B. ケンさんはがくせいます。 (Ken-san wa gakusei masu.)
2. Which means “This is a book”? A. これはほんです。 (Kore wa hon desu.) B. これはですほん。 (Kore wa desu hon.)
3. Which means “I eat sushi”? A. すしをたべます。 (Sushi o tabemasu.) B. すしをたべますです。 (Sushi o tabemasu desu.)

Answers

1. A. がくせい (gakusei) is a noun, so it takes です, not ます.

2. A. です comes after the noun, at the end.

3. A. The action sentence already has its polite verb ending.

Make your own です sentences

Fill the blank with a noun that describes you, for example がくせい:

1. わたしは___ですWatashi wa ___ desu.I’m ___.
2. わたしはがくせいですWatashi wa gakusei desu.I’m a student.

Now identify an object in the same way, and then add か to make it a question:

1. これは___ですKore wa ___ desu.This is ___.
2. これはほんですKore wa hon desu.This is a book.
3. これはほんですかKore wa hon desu ka.Is this a book?

With only です and か, you can already move between identifying something and asking whether your identification is correct.

Keep this in mind

Do not force です = is into every sentence. Instead, recognize this useful beginner pattern:

It lets you make polite statements such as these:

1. わたしはがくせいですWatashi wa gakusei desu.I’m a student.
2. ケンさんはせんせいですKen-san wa sensei desu.Ken is a teacher.
3. これはほんですKore wa hon desu.This is a book.

And when the context is already clear, the sentence can become shorter:

1. がくせいですGakusei desu.I’m a student.
2. ほんですHon desu.It’s a book.

The key idea is not that です is a Japanese version of one particular English word. It is that です helps you complete a simple polite statement about what someone or something is. Once that mental model is clear, many of the first Japanese sentences you meet become much easier to understand.

Continue learning

See why です appears at the end in Basic Japanese Sentence Order: Put the Action at the End.

Turn a です statement into a polite question with How to Ask Questions in Japanese: Add か to a Polite Sentence.

Then learn why Japanese can say がくせいです (gakusei desu) without explicitly saying “I” in Why Japanese Drops “I” and “You”: Leaving Out the Subject for Beginners.