1. 1. X Y
"I'm Smith.", "I'm an American.", and "I'm a lawyer." These sentences will all be
translated into Japanese using an appropriate noun and the ending word "desu".
It is . . . / I am . . .
bengoshi desu
Note that none of above sentences has a "subject" like the "I " found in their English
counterparts. Sentences without subjects are very common in Japanese; Japanese
speakers actually tend to omit subjects whenever they think it is clear to the listener
what or who they are referring to.

2. What are we to do, then, when it is not clear what is being talked about? To make
explicit what we are talking about, we can say:
Where stands for the thing that is talked about, or the "topic", which is later in
the sentence identified as amerika jin.
Ms. Lin is a Chinese.

3. " (wa)" is a member of the class of words called "particles." So is the word " (no)",
which we will turn to later in this lesson. Particles attach themselves to Phrases and
indicate how the phrases relate to the rest of the sentence.
Note also that nouns like " ( )" and "
a
a -s

4. 2. Question Sentences
It is very easy to form questions in Japanese. Basically, all you need to do is add " (ka)"
at the end of a statement.
(I am) a student.
gakusei desu
(Are you) a student?
gakusei desu ka
The above sentence, " " , is a " yes / no " question. If the question is
gakusei desu ka
correct, you answer " " as "yes", and if it's not correct you answer " " as "no".
hai iie
Question: = (Are you) a student?
gakusei desu ka
Yes answer: = Yes, I am. or = Yes, I am a student.
No answer: = No, I'm not. or
= No, I'm not a student.