Chinese, Mandarin

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Persian, Dari

Persian, Western

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek, Modern

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

んです is used to explain something, to show emphasis or to give reasoning. 

We’ve already seen many examples of reporting something, for example <ruby>寒samu</ruby>いです(it’s cold). If we want to offer more of an explanation or show reasoning, we can add んです to the end of the sentence. The んです implies that there’s some background information or shared context/knowledge. 


For example, compare these two sentences:

<table class="ui celled table">
 <thead>
 <tr>
 <th>Observation/report</th>
 <th>Explanation</th>
			<th>Emphasis</th>
 </tr>
 </thead>
 <tbody>
 <tr>
 <td><ruby>暑atsu</ruby>いです。 It’s hot.</td>
 <td><ruby>暑atsu</ruby>いんです。 It’s hot (so I’m not going out).</td>
			<td><ruby>暑atsu</ruby>いんです[よ]。 It’s hot!</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
			<td><ruby>風ka邪zeを引hiいた</ruby>。 I have a cold.</td>
 <td><ruby>風ka邪zeを引hiいたんだ。</ruby> I have a cold (so that’s why I look tired).</td>
			<td><ruby>風ka邪zeを引hiいたんだ[よ]。</ruby> I have a cold!</td>
 </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>



	んですcan be used with affirmative, negative, present and past tense words.
	んです itself rarely changes tense.
	See the below table for examples of how to use んです with nouns, adjectives and verbs.



 Note that you need to attach な to nouns and な-adjectives when using them with んです.


<table class="ui celled definition table">
 <thead>
 <tr>
 <th></th>
 <th>Present</th>
 <th>Past</th>
			<th>Negative</th>
 </tr>
 </thead>
 <tbody>
 <tr>
 <td>Noun</td>
			<td><ruby>予yo定teiなんです。</ruby></td>
 <td><ruby>予yo定teiだったんです。</ruby></td>
			<td><ruby>予yo定teiじゃないんです。</ruby></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>な-adjective</td>
 <td><ruby>静sizuかなんです。</ruby></td>
 <td><ruby>静sizuかだったんです。</ruby></td>
			<td><ruby>静sizuかじゃないんです。</ruby></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>い-adjective</td>
 <td><ruby>面omo白siroいんです。</ruby></td>
 <td><ruby>面omo白siroかったんです。</ruby></td>
			<td><ruby>面omo白siroくないんです。</ruby></td>
 </tr>
		<tr>
 <td>Verb</td>
 <td><ruby>食ta</ruby>べるんです。</td>
 <td><ruby>食ta</ruby>べたんです。</td>
			<td><ruby>食ta</ruby>べないんです。</td>
 </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>


	The formal version which is often used in writing is のです. In casual situations, んです can be shorted to んだ.
 


	You can also use んです to seek explanation or confirmation in the form of a question.
	You might have heard the phrase どうしたんですか,
	which means what’s wrong? or what’s happened?.
	With んです here, you are acknowledging something about the context, e.g. the person you’re speaking to seems upset.

Offering explanation with んです

hiragana character

kanji

adnominal

adverb

auxiliary

conjunction

compound

i-adjective

interjection

noun

na-adjective

numeral

particle

case particle

conjunctive particle

discourse particle

prefix

pronoun

suffix

verb

sentence

hiragana writing

kanji writing

kanji component

reading vocabulary

katakana writing

katakana character

godan - group 1

itidan - group 2

group 3

transitive

intransitive

proper noun

discourse

phrase

expression

adjectival noun

adverbial phrase

adjectival phrase

adverbial noun

The verb to be

Hiragana 1

Kanji 1

Writing hiragana 1

Writing kanji 1

Hiragana 2

Kanji 2

The question particle か

Writing hiragana 2

This one and that one

Writing kanji 2

Reading exercise 1

Reading exercise 2

Hiragana 3

Negating nouns

Writing hiragana 3

The topic particle は

Kanji 3

The possession particle の

い-adjectives and な-adjectives

The subject particle が

Here and there

There is, there are

Writing kanji 3

Kanji 4

Group 1 verbs, direct and indirect objects

Group 2 verbs

Hiragana 4

Verbs in the past tense

Negating verbs

Invitations and the particle と

Negating past verbs

Writing hiragana 4

Reading exercise 3

Writing kanji 4

Reading exercise 4

Kanji 5

Nouns and the past tense

This and that

The group 3 verbs する and 来る

The discourse particles ね and よ

The location particles に and で

Hiragana 5

Writing hiragana 5

Writing kanji 5

The destination particles に and へ

Kanji 6

The origin particle から

Hiragana 6

Relative positions

Conjugating い-adjectives

Writing hiragana 6

Writing kanji 6

Hiragana 7

Writing hiragana 7

Kanji 7

Conjugating な-adjectives

How are you?

The particle も

The word ちょっと

Question	Answer
cold; flu	風か邪ぜkaze
to pull; to draw; to catch (a cold)	引ひくhiku
to catch a cold	風か邪ぜ　を　引ひくkaze wo hiku
He caught a light cold.	彼かれ　は　軽かるい　風か邪ぜ　を　引ひきました。kare ha karui kaze wo hikimasita.
the explanation is that...; it is that....	んだnda
(It's because) I caught a cold.	風か邪ぜ　を　引ひいた　んだ。kaze wo hiita nda.
I'm not going tomorrow. (It's because) I don't have any money.	明あし日た　は　行いかない。　お金かね　が　ない　んだ。asita ha ikanai. okane ga nai nda.
the explanation is that...; it is that....	んですndesu
(Explain to me,) why did you go?	どうして　行いった　んです　か。dousite itta ndesu ka.
(It's because) it was the plan.	予よ定てい　だった　んです。yotei datta ndesu.
(It's because) school is interesting.	学が校っこう　は　面おも白しろい　んです。gakkou ha omosiroi ndesu.
(It's because) it's not quiet here.	ここ　は　静しずか　で　は　ない　んです。koko ha sizuka de ha nai ndesu.
What's wrong?; What's happened?	どう　した　んです　か。dou sita ndesu ka.
the explanation is that...; it is that....	の　ですno desu
I'm not going tomorrow. (It's because) I don't have any money.	明あし日た　は　行いきません。　お金かね　が　ありません　の　です。asita ha ikimasen. okane ga arimasen no desu.
(It's because) it's the plan.	予よ定ていな　んです。yoteina ndesu.
I'm not going to the park. (It's because) It's (too) hot!	公こう園えん　に　行いかない。　暑あつい　んです　よ。kouen ni ikanai. atui ndesu yo.
(It's because) it's convenient.	便べん利りな　んだ。benrina nda.
software	ソフトsohuto
(It's because) that software is useful.	その　ソフト　は　便べん利りな　んです。sono sohuto ha benrina ndesu.
(It's that) tomorrow is a holiday.	明あし日た　は　休やすみな　んです。asita ha yasumina ndesu.

Contributors