Lesson 2. Who I am: 「わたしはがくせいです」, the particle は, and the predicate at the end

I can say who I am and who the other person is, ask a question with か, and answer “yes, that's right” or “no, that's not right” — and I put the predicate at the end of the sentence.

The first sentence: 【who】は【who】です

The goal of this lesson: say who you are and ask who the other person is. The particle は goes after a word and marks the topic: “as for me…”. It's written は but read “wa”, as you remember from module 0. The predicate (the end of the sentence) always comes last: first the topic, and です at the very end. です is a polite ending that closes the sentence; after a noun it works like English “is”, but it never moves up to second place as “is” does. The negative: じゃないです in place of です. There's also the slightly more formal じゃありません, but this course doesn't use it. A question: add か at the end; the word order doesn't change. Answers: はい、そうです and いいえ、ちがいます. A name is asked more briefly, with just a questioning voice: おなまえは — お is added when it's someone else's name. No a / the, and usually no plural: がくせい is a student, the student, or students. Address the other person by last name + さん. The word あなた (“you”) is rare in speech; said to the person you're talking to, it sounds distant and can be rude. Common mistakes: • NOT わたしはですがくせい。 — です goes at the end. • NOT わたしがくせいです。 — は is missing. • NOT あなたはせんせいですか。 — use the last name: やまだ（山田）さんは…. • NOT わたしはアレクセイさんです。 — never さん about yourself.

A sentence with the predicate です

The word order stays the same; only the end changes.

What you say	Model	What changes
affirmative	やまださんはいしゃです。	です at the end
negative	やまださんはいしゃじゃないです。	です → じゃないです
question	やまださんはいしゃですか。	か is added at the end
answer	はい、そうです／いいえ、ちがいます	“yes, that's right” / “no, that's not right”

Lesson characters: recognizing them in writing

You don't need to write these characters, only to recognize them on a form and in a text.

Character	Reading	Meaning
私	わたし	I
名前	なまえ	name (on a form)
お名前	おなまえ	your name (someone else's)

Lesson notes

The first sentence: 【who】は【who】です

The goal of this lesson: say who you are and ask who the other person is. The particle は goes after a word and marks the topic: “as for me…”. It's written は but read “wa”, as you remember from module 0. The predicate (the end of the sentence) always comes last: first the topic, and です at the very end. です is a polite ending that closes the sentence; after a noun it works like English “is”, but it never moves up to second place as “is” does. The negative: じゃないです in place of です. There's also the slightly more formal じゃありません, but this course doesn't use it. A question: add か at the end; the word order doesn't change. Answers: はい、そうです and いいえ、ちがいます. A name is asked more briefly, with just a questioning voice: おなまえは — お is added when it's someone else's name. No a / the, and usually no plural: がくせい is a student, the student, or students. Address the other person by last name + さん. The word あなた (“you”) is rare in speech; said to the person you're talking to, it sounds distant and can be rude. Common mistakes: • NOT わたしはですがくせい。 — です goes at the end. • NOT わたしがくせいです。 — は is missing. • NOT あなたはせんせいですか。 — use the last name: やまだ（山田）さんは…. • NOT わたしはアレクセイさんです。 — never さん about yourself.