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How to Say ‘It is. (polite copula)’ in Japanese

です。

desu

[dess]

💬 Usage Tip: [です] is the polite “is/are.” It’s often attached to nouns (e.g., [田中小学校です]).

🇯🇵 In Japan: School staff usually keep everything in polite style ([です]/[ます]) even if you speak casually.

Phrase Breakdown

です

desu

[dess]

is; am; are (polite)

Sentence-ending copula used for polite statements (often with names/places).

Example

こちらは田中小学校です。

This is Tanaka Elementary School.

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