Da And Desu
Are those cat dolls? Not really... it's called manekineko (招き猫).
Litterally translated it means beckoning cat and yes, this is an Japanese sculpture made of porcelain or ceramic for attracting luck and money.
Just think of manekineko as a fortune cat for your business.
To attract money, choose a 招き猫 with its right paw raised. To attract customers, choose a cat with its left left paw raised.
Da and desu are the same word for expressing "to be, is and are" in Japanese. Da is the informal form while desu is the polite form. For more polite form called keigo, you can use gozaimasu which means the same thing, to be, is and are.
Sometimes you will also hear an elderly Japanese use ja at the end of a sentence instead of da or desu. Ja is basically just like da and desu. It means "is, are or to be" but it is used mainly by the older generation.
Some Japanese like to put strange ending like nya at the end of the sentence so that they will sound funky. Nya is basically used to imitate the sound made a cat. So in cat or a cat girl character in an anime will keep using nya at the end of every sentence just to show that she's a cat. Interesting, isn't it?
Japanese Word List 9
Using da, desu, gozaru and gozaimasu is very simple - just put them at the end a sentence:
ナルトは忍者だ。
Naruto wa ninja da.
Naruto is a ninja.
試験は明日です。
Shiken wa ashita desu.
The exam is tomorrow.
これは僕の本でございます。
Kore wa boku no hon de gozaimasu.
This is not my book.
If you're really serious about learning Japanese and you want to learn it fast and easily, now's your perfect chance to learn it cheap while you still can... before they increase the price. Check out this really cool and revolutionary Japanese learning system that can help you learn Japanese real fast like a ROCKET.
Don't let this chance slip through your finger again, there's no better time than NOW! Improve your Japanese now and start speaking Japanese with confidence like the natives!!