Editing Japanese grammar (section)

===Copula ({{lang|ja|だ}} {{transliteration|ja|da}})===
The [[Copula (linguistics)|copula]] {{transliteration|ja|da}} behaves very much like a verb or an adjective in terms of conjugation.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ Stem forms of the copula
|-
! {{nihongo|Irrealis form|未然形|mizenkei}}
| {{nihongo||では|de wa}}
|-
! {{nihongo|Continuative form|連用形|ren'yōkei}}
| {{nihongo||で|de}}
|-
! {{nihongo|Terminal form|終止形|shūshikei}}
| {{nihongo||だ|da|informal}}{{pb}}{{nihongo||です|desu|polite}}{{pb}}{{nihongo||でございます|de gozaimasu|respectful}}
|-
! {{nihongo|Attributive form|連体形|rentaikei}}
| {{nihongo||である|de aru}}
|-
! {{nihongo|Hypothetical form|仮定形|kateikei}}
| {{nihongo||なら|nara}}
|-
! {{nihongo|Imperative form|命令形|meireikei}}
| {{nihongo||であれ|deare}}
|}

Note that there are no potential, causative, or passive forms of the copula, just as with adjectives.

The following are some examples.
<!-- The following needs placing into the template {{tl|Interlinear}}:-->
{{blockquote|{{lang|ja|ジョンは学生'''だ'''。}}
{{transliteration|ja|JON wa gakusei '''da'''}}
"John '''is''' a student."}}

{{blockquote|{{lang|ja|明日も晴れ'''なら'''、ピクニックしよう。}}
{{transliteration|ja|Ashita mo hare '''nara''', PIKUNIKKU shiyō}}
"'''If''' tomorrow '''is''' clear too, let's have a picnic."}}

In continuative conjugations, {{nihongo||では|de wa}} is often contracted in speech to {{nihongo||じゃ|ja}}; for some kinds of informal speech {{transliteration|ja|ja}} is preferable to {{transliteration|ja|de wa}}, or is the only possibility.

{| class="wikitable" style="float:none; text-align:center;"
|+ Conjugations of the copula
|-
!rowspan="3"| nonpast
! informal
| {{nihongo||だ|da}}
|-
! polite
| {{nihongo||です|desu}}
|-
! respectful
| {{nihongo||でございます|de gozaimasu}}
|-
!rowspan="3"| past
! informal
| cont. + {{nihongo||あった|atta}}{{pb}}{{nihongo||だった|datta}}
|-
! polite
| {{nihongo||でした|deshita}}
|-
! respectful
| {{nihongo||でございました|de gozaimashita}}
|-
!rowspan="3"| negative nonpast
! informal
| cont. + {{nihongo||はない|wa nai}}
| {{nihongo||じゃない|ja nai}}
|-
! polite
| cont. + {{nihongo||はありません|wa arimasen}}
| {{nihongo||じゃありません||ja arimasen}}
|-
! respectful
| cont. + {{nihongo||はございません|wa gozaimasen}}
| {{nihongo||じゃございません||ja gozaimasen}}
|-
!rowspan="3"| negative past
! informal
| cont. + {{nihongo||はなかった|wa nakatta}}
| {{nihongo||じゃなかった|ja nakatta}}
|-
! polite
| cont. + {{nihongo||はありませんでした|wa arimasen deshita}}
| {{nihongo||じゃありませんでした|ja arimasen deshita}}
|-
! respectful
| cont. + {{nihongo||はございませんでした|wa gozaimasen deshita}}
| {{nihongo||じゃございませんでした|ja gozaimasen deshita}}
|-
!rowspan="3"| conditional
! informal
| hyp. + {{nihongo||ば|ba}}
|-
! polite
|rowspan="2"| cont. + {{nihongo||あれば|areba}}
|-
! respectful
|-
!rowspan="3"| provisional
! informal
| {{nihongo||なら|nara}}
|-
! polite
|rowspan="2"| same as conditional
|-
! respectful
|-
!rowspan="3"| volitional
! informal
| {{nihongo||だろう|darō}}
|-
! polite
| {{nihongo||でしょう|deshō}}
|-
! respectful
| {{nihongo||でございましょう|de gozaimashō}}
|-
!rowspan="3"| adverbial and {{transliteration|ja|-te}} forms
! informal
| cont.
|-
! polite
| cont. + {{nihongo||ありまして|arimashite}}
|-
! respectful
| cont. + {{nihongo||ございまして|gozaimashite}}
|}

{{Clear}}