Copula and Basic Statements

です (desu) — is / am / are (polite)

です (desu) is the polite way to say 'is' or 'am' in Japanese. You put it at the end of a sentence to make it sound respectful — Japanese grammar works back-to-front compared to English! A common beginner mistake is forgetting です at the end, which makes the sentence sound very casual or even rude.