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!
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
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.