English and Japanese grammatical structure are different.
In English, we use (1) Subject-Verb-Object or (2) Subject-Verb-Compliment.
1. I ate sushi.
2. I am hot.
In Japanese, the order is (1) S-O-V or (2) S-C-V.
1. 私はすしを食べた。 watashi wa sushi wo tabeta (I ate sushi).
2. 私は暑いです。 watashi wa atsui desu (I am hot).
Let’s take a look at the S-C-V example. The format can be generalized as follows: S wa C desu.
“wa” marks the topic of the sentence.
“desu” is the verb “is/are”.
Here are a few more examples of the S-C-V structure.
a. I am happy – watashi wa shiawase desu
b. He is big – kare wa ookii desu
c. She is small – kanojo wa chiisai desu
d. They are noisy – karera wa urusai desu
e. Mother is quiet – haha wa shizuka desu
Test yourself to see if you can make a few sentences using the SVC format!