Phase 1 · new grammar · Day 16 of 100 · ~12 min

です・だ — "A is B"

You’ve been using です since your very first sentence — これはすしです. Today we name what it is. English makes you pick the right “to be” for each subject — I am, you are, she is — and drop it in the middle. Japanese refuses to play that game: です covers am / is / are for everyone, never changes for I / you / he / they, has no plural, and always lands at the very end. 私は学生です is literally “as-for-me, student is.” The verb coming last is true of every sentence you’ll ever build. (Among friends, です shrinks to だ.)

Today's words
what
to think; to consider
person; someone
you; buddy
good; excellent
Write today's kanji — tap to replay
See it in real sentences
He is nice.
That's absolutely right.
I quite agree with you.
This is my bag.
I will do my best.
Because she felt sick.

Practice

Spaced review — recall from earlier days (tap to flip)
to say
()
1d ago
Recall
Which word means “what”?
Which word means “good”?
Which word means “you”?
Which word means “to think”?
Listen and choose
What did you hear?
What did you hear?
What did you hear?
Your turn — say it, then check
Say: “He is nice.”
いい(ひと)です。
Say: “That's absolutely right.”
(まった)くそのとおりです。
👀 Today’s input · ~10 min — where fluency actually comes from
Read your first real books
You can read kana now — so read. Open a Level 0 Tadoku graded reader: picture books made for absolute beginners, almost all kana. Sound each page out loud and don’t stop to look up every word; getting the gist is the goal.
Tadoku free graded readers — Level 0 →

Furigana by kuroshiro · stroke order by KanjiVG · audio by your browser. Sentences are real native sentences, auto-selected for this day.