JLPT N5 Sentence basics: to be, adjectives, existence
These are the building blocks of every N5 sentence: だ・です and じゃない・ではない state what something is, い- and な-adjectives describe it, and があります・がいます say it exists. The classic pitfall is using あります for people or animals, which take います, or negating an い-adjective with じゃない instead of くない.
11 N5 grammar points in this group
だ・です (da desu): to be in Japanese
The basic job of だ・です is to link a topic to what it is: A は B です means “A is B.” Japanese doesn’t need a word for “it,” so a single noun plus です is already a full sentence: 猫です means “It’s a cat.
私は学生です。 — I’m a student.
じゃない・ではない (janai dewa nai): to not be
This pattern denies an identity, a category, or a な-adjective description:
私は学生じゃない。 — I’m not a student.
い-adjectives (i-adjectives): Japanese i-adjectives explained
"い-adjective" is the name of a word class, not one piece of grammar. It covers every adjective whose dictionary form ends in い and conjugates by changing that final い.
この本はおもしろいです。 — This book is interesting.
な-adjectives (na-adjectives): Japanese na-adjectives explained
A な-adjective describes a quality of a person, place, or thing. English has no separate category for them; they translate as ordinary adjectives. Japanese grammar books also call them “adjectival nouns,” because they share most of their behavior with nouns.
静かな町に住んでいます。 — I live in a quiet town.
があります (ga arimasu): there is or have
English uses two different verbs where Japanese uses one.
机の上に本があります。 — There is a book on the desk.
がいます (ga imasu): there is someone
がいます is two pieces: the particle が, which marks the thing that exists, and います, the polite form of the verb いる (to exist, to be somewhere). Together they say “X exists.
教室に先生がいます。 — There is a teacher in the classroom.
なる (naru): to become
なる describes a change from one state to another.
将来、先生になりたいです。 — I want to become a teacher in the future.
お / ご (o go): polite or honorific prefix
The prefixes do not change the meaning of the noun. 名前 and お名前 both mean "name". What changes is the tone.
すみません、お名前は何ですか。 — Excuse me, what's your name?
方 (kata): the way of doing something
Verb stem + 方 names the method or manner of an action.
この漢字の読み方を教えてください。 — Please tell me how to read this kanji.
んです (ndesu): to explain or emphasize
んです is a contracted form of のです. The の turns the sentence into “the fact that…”, and です states it politely: “it’s (the case) that…”. In speech の almost always shrinks to ん.
すみません、遅れました。電車が遅れたんです。 — Sorry I’m late. The train was delayed.
のです (no desu): to explain or emphasize
Grammatically, の turns the sentence before it into a noun, like "the fact that…". Then です states it. So 頭が痛いのです is roughly "it is the case that my head hurts.
今日は行けないのです。明日、試験があるのです。 — I can't go today. I have an exam tomorrow, you see.