Japanese basic with grammar

watashi wa (I)  watashi no (my)
watashi ni (me, to me)  watashi no mono (mine)

anata wa (you)  anata no (your)
anata ni (you, to you)  anata no mono (yours)

kare wa (he)  kare no (his) 
kare ni (him, to him) kare no mono (his)

kanojho wa (she) kanojho no (her) 
kanojho ni (her, to her)  kanojho no mono (hers)

karera wa (they)  karera no (their) 
karera ni (them, to them)  karera no mono (theirs)

sore wa (it) sono (its)
kore wa (this) kono (this)
are wa (that)　ano (that)

when you introduce yourself, you can say like "watashi wa *** desu."

for example:
watashi wa gakusei desu.(I'm a student.)
watashi wa 18sai desu. (I'm 18 years old.)
watashi wa america-jin desu.(I'm an American.)


when you'd like to know about the person, you can ask like "anata wa ***desu ka?"

for example:
anata wa gakusei desu ka?(Are you a student?)
anatawa nan sai desu ka?(how old are you?)
anata wa nihon-jin desu ka?(Are you a Japanese?)

However, be careful! This is only in the case of the verb like "am", "are", "is"
When you'd like to say "I like dogs, if you say "watashi wa inu desu.", it means
"I'm a dog.".... :S

about : "da" and "desu"

When you speak Japanese, "-da" is the normal form and "-desu" is the polite form.
When you talk to the person for the first time or they are older than you, you should
talk to them in the polite form.

For example:

1. I am a student.

Normal form: Watashi wa gakusei da.　
Polite form: Watashi wa gakusei desu.　

Watshi wa = Subject ( I )
Gakusei =Complement ( a student )
Desu(or Da) = Verb( am )

2. She is a teacher.

Normal form : Kanojho wa sensei da.
Polite form: Kanojho wa sensei desu.　

Kanojho wa = Subject( she)
Sensei = Complement( a teacher )
Desu(or Da) = Verb( is )

3. You are my friend.

Normal form: Anata wa watashi no tomodachi da.
Polite form: Anata wa watashi no tomodachi desu.　

Anata wa = Subject ( you )
Watashi no tomodachi = Complement ( my friend )
Desu(or Da) = Verb ( are )

When foreign people learn Japanese at school, they normally learn polite form
like ‘watashi wa gakusei desu.’(I am a student.).
However, if you teach Japanese yourself, you often see the normal form like ‘da’
or ‘de aru’ in the Japanese textbooks.
Actually we often use ‘da’ or ‘dearu’ in written language, but in conversations,
we have to add like ‘da ne’, ‘da yo’, ‘da rou’…etc…
It is a natural way when we talk. "-ne", "-yo", "-rou", "-kedo", etc...these express
emphasis, agreement, doubt, dissatisfaction, or possibility and so on...it's depends
on the situation. If you would talk to Japanese people online, they would often
say like "sou da ne"(It means 'okay', 'you're right', 'yes, it is', 'well, let me see...'),
"sou da yo"('that's right', 'absolutely'), "ii ne"('sounds nice', 'great'),
"ii yo"('sure', 'okay', 'never mind'...).

Polite form:

A: Kore wa anata no hon desu ka? (Is this your book? )
B:Hai, sou desu. (Yes, it is.)

Normal form:

A: Kore wa anata no hon? ( Is this your book? )
B: un, sou da yo.(Yes, it is.)

If the person(B) says ‘sou da’(yes, it is.), it sounds a bit rough for Japanese.
When you use normal form, you have to use them carefully.