Practicing “Desu”

“Always act as if success was guaranteed.” – Unknown

Now that you’ve learned how to create sentences with desu, we’re going to practice. Using the images and table below, see if you can answer the following questions!

Hiragana Romaji
English
ぶどう budou grape(s)
ばなな/バナナ banana banana
さる saru monkey
いちご ichigo strawberry
かぼちゃ kabocha pumpkin

Let’s get started. First… monkey!

monkey

Translate: It is a monkey.

a Saru desu

Now write it out 5 times in hiragana (use your sheet if you have to)

さるです、さるです、さるです、さるです、さるです

strawberry

It is a Strawberry.

a ichigo desu

Write the answer in hiragana five times

いちごです、いちごです、いちごです、いちごです、いちごです

Translate: It is a pumpkin.

kabocha desu

Write the answer in hiragana and then say it out loud. Remember how if you combine a small や, ゆ, or よ to a kana in the い column it modifies it? ち (chi) + small や (ya) = ちゃ (cha). Here’s the pronunciation for pumpkin in case you’re unsure: a

How are you feeling so far? Do you think you understand the pattern? Let’s do one more thing before you move on to the next grammar chapter.

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