Let's say you just want to say "I am". How would you do that? What are the benefits of using a series like Zelda to learn another language? Chances are you have played at least one game from the franchise in the past. If you try learning with a new game, one you've never played in English, you will probably spend most of your time stuck on names. Being able to distinguish what the names belong to (a person, location, thing, etc.) can get confusing especially in longer sentences. By playing a familiar game, you won't have that problem and you can use that time productively learning new words, learning new phrases, and save yourself the frustration.
は (wa)
は designates the topic of a sentence. Even though it's the 'ha' syllable, it's pronounced 'wa' when used as a particle. The first word everyone learns is 'konnichi wa'. A lot of people misspell it as こんにちわ, but it's actually こんにちは, using the 'wa' topic indicating the topic. Konnichiwa is a common greeting intended for strangers in the middle of the day (between 11 am and 5 pm, idk why). On a technical level the presence of 'は' implies interest in the persons day. After all, you made their day the literal topic of a conversation.
At it's simplest, a sentence should arrange words in a Subject - Object - Verb arrangement. This is different from the standard English format of Subject -Verb - Object. For example, English "I see" becomes "私は見る" (watashi wa miru).
Desu, written です, is the typical copula for a sentence without a verb. For example, 私はリンクです (watashi wa linku desu) "I am Link" (if Link cared to talk). You'll never see that line in any of the games. For one, Link doesn't talk at all. It seems like all the characters in games talk casually to each other. This has a couple of explanations; that the characters are close to each other, and that the games are for children who are not expected to speak formally.
At it's simplest, a sentence should arrange words in a Subject - Object - Verb arrangement. This is different from the standard English format of Subject -Verb - Object. For example, English "I see" becomes "私は見る" (watashi wa miru).
です (desu)
Unfortunately, even when you are writing simple statements, you are usually expect to maintain a formal tone. In all situations at work, at school, and when talking to complete strangers this is the tone you should speak in. This means you have to attach polite copula at the end of each sentence, like desu or masu. This article will focus on desu.Desu, written です, is the typical copula for a sentence without a verb. For example, 私はリンクです (watashi wa linku desu) "I am Link" (if Link cared to talk). You'll never see that line in any of the games. For one, Link doesn't talk at all. It seems like all the characters in games talk casually to each other. This has a couple of explanations; that the characters are close to each other, and that the games are for children who are not expected to speak formally.
Example conversation
There is only one unfamiliar term below (link). If you've learned hiragana and katakana, and read the above, you should be able to understand the meaning of the kanji by context alone. You will often have to do this even at advanced levels of reading simply because there are so many letters. Can you understand?
person 1: ゼルダは姫です。 zeruda wa hime desu
person 2: ゼルダか？ zeruda ka?
person 1: はい！ hai!
person 1: ハイラルの姫はゼルダです。hairaru no hime wa zeruda desu
The last sentence could also have been ゼルダはハイラルの姫です (zeruda wa hairaru no hime desu). In the example, the last sentence is literally "The princess of Hyrule is Zelda." If one chose to write it as ゼルダはハイラルの姫です, you'd be saying "Zelda is the princess of Hyrule." Both mean the same exact thing.
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