Japanese

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.


<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>秘hi密mituなんです。</ruby> It's a secret.</td>
 <td><ruby>秘hi密mituだったんです。</ruby> It was a secret.</td>
			<td><ruby>秘hi密mituじゃないんです。</ruby> It's not a secret.</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

Word	どうした　んです　か。 dousita ndesu ka.
Meaning	What's wrong?; What's happened?
Part of speech	sentence
Pronunciation

question particle	か ka
the explanation is that...; it is that....	んです ndesu
why; how	どうして dousite

Japanese

dousita ndesu ka.

Breakdown of dousita ndesu ka.

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