みんなの日本語初級　第１課 〜は〜です。

みんなの日本語初級　第１課 〜は〜です。

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・～は～です。
・～は～人です。<Nationality>
・〜は<身分・職業>です。<Status or Profession>

・～は～です。

The particle "は" is the topic marker, so before “は” is the topic of the sentence. This is pronounced as "wa" at this time.

When you say this about yourself, it goes like this.

私（わたし）は　[name]です。< I am [name].>

Watashi wa [name] desu.

When you say this about man, it goes like this.

彼（かれ）は　[name]です。<He is [name].>

Kare wa [name] desu.

When you say this about woman, it goes like this.

彼女（かのじょ）は　 [name]です。<She is [name].>

Kanojo wa [name] desu.

In this case, you can omit the subject "I".

こんにちは、[name]です。

It is customary to add the honorific "さん san" after the name. If it is your friend or child, you can add "くん kun" or "ちゃん chan" after his or her name.

However, you should not use honorific titles for yourself.

ひろしくん　Hiroshi kun

ななちゃん Nana chan

・〜は〜人です。<Nationality>

私（わたし）は [country name]人（じん）です。

Watashi wa [country name] jin desu.

大阪さんは　日本人です。< Mr. Osaka is a Japanese.>

おおさかさんは、にほんじんです。

Oosaka san wa, nihon jin desu.

アリアナさんは、アメリカ人です。< Miss. Ariana is an American.>

Ariana san wa, America jin desu.

ウィルさんは、イギリス人です。<Will is an Englishman.>

Will san wa, Igirisu jin desu.

In Japanese we refer to England as ”Igirisu”.

There are other countries that are called differently than the original name of the country.

Australia（オーストラリア）、Netherland（オランダ）、Greece（ギリシャ）、Germany（ドイツ）、Turkey（トルコ）、Mexico（メキシコ）

In most cases, countries are written in katakana.

・〜は<身分・職業>です。<Status or Profession>

アリアナさんは、歌手です。<Miss. Ariana is a singer.>

Ariana san wa kashu desu.

ウィルさんは、プロレスラーです。<Will is a Pro Wrestler.>

Will san wa Pro Wrestler desu.

私は、会社員です。<I am an office worker.>

わたしは、かいしゃいんです。

Watashi wa kaishain desu.

会社員（かいしゃいん） and 社員（しゃいん） have the same meaning "Employee", but the situations in which we use these words are different.

会社員（かいしゃいん） is used to answer the name of the occupation and 社員（しゃいん） is used to answer the status.

About  Teacher "教師（きょうし）" and "先生（せんせい）"

'教師（きょうし）' is used as the name of a profession. Therefore, it is used when introducing yourself and writing your professional name.

'先生（せんせい）' is also used as a professional name, but it is often used to refer to a person by name, as in '～さん'. When you introduce yourself, you don't say "先生（せんせい）".

"先生（せんせい）" is not only used to refer to a school teacher, but also to a doctor, politician, or lawyer.

おまけ

「～さん」

How do you pronounce this symbol in Japanese?

The correct answer is...

「なになに (nani nani)　さん」or「ほにゃらら (Honyarara)　さん」.

See you.