How to Say ‘Is / polite ending’ in Japanese
です
desu
[dess]
💬 Usage Tip: Polite copula. Turns words into polite statements: [近いです] (it’s close), [駅です] (it’s the station).
🇯🇵 In Japan: Even casual directions to strangers tend to use [です]/[ます] style for politeness.
Phrase Breakdown
です
desu
[dess]
(is/am/are); polite copula
Polite sentence ending used to state information or make something sound polite (like “to be”). Often follows nouns/adjectives in directions and distance explanations.
地下鉄の駅はここです。
The subway station is here.
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