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Old 2003-11-06, 19:24   Link #41
Wandering A.I.
エッチだ! しかたない
 
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
>so that's what I've "learned" from just the first post. But... is it correct?

watashi can be used by either sex, it's more polite/distant than boku as well. I use watashi at class and boku with friends, but I'm still learning, so whatever. ^^

Technically desu is a contracted (from de arimasu) copula (in present, polite form) which basically means two things are equal. Google it if you really care, but you can just translate it as "is". It's not a verb per se, but verbs come at the end of a sentence in Japanese which is why your guess for wa is wrong. Like said above, in anime you'll hear da a lot more often which is the regular, not as polite/distant, form.

ka is the question particple, wa is the topic marker. So anata wa in isolation is probably better translated as "as for you..." or "concerning you..." since it isn't necessarily the subject, but can be. Uh, I don't want to explain the whole topic/subject marker bit. Try this page ^^:
http://japaneseculture.about.com/library/weekly/aa051301a.htm

*shudders at the horror of so much Japanese in roomaji above*
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