Lesson 7: Verb to be

Hello...
It's time to learn the first verb in every language: to be.
In English this verb has two meanings. For example:
1. I am from Colombia.
2. I am in a restaurant.

In Japanese there is a verb for the first sentence and other for the second, so let's focus on the first sentence. For this meaning the verb is である
And the grammatical structure for this meaning is:

person,thing は complement です
Let's see some sentences:

わたし は ともみ です。I am Tomomi.

わたし は ころんびあんじん です。I am from Colombia

Now, let's see how it is conjugated:

です                                 AM/IS/ARE

ではありません                       AM NOT/ IS NOT/ ARE NOT

でした                               WAS/WERE

ではありませんでした                 WAS NOT/ WERE NOT

For example:

わたし は ともみ です。I am Tomomi.
わたし は おとこのひと ではありません。I am not a man.

わたし は がくせい でした。I was a student.

わたし は わるいがくせい ではありませんでした。I was not a bad student.

I'll post some sentences later to help you with this.

If there are any questions, please leave a comment...

Bye!