だ

See also: た and Appendix:Variations of "da"

だ U+3060, だ HIRAGANA LETTER DA Composition: た [U+305F] + ◌゙ [U+3099] ← た [U+305F] Hiragana ち → [U+3061]

Japanese

Stroke order

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [da̠]

Etymology 1

The hiragana character た (ta) with a dakuten (゛).

Syllable

だ • (da) 

1. The hiragana syllable だ (da). Its equivalent in katakana is ダ (da).

See also

• (Hiragana) 平仮名; あぁ, いぃ, うぅゔ, えぇ, おぉ, かゕが, きぎ, くぐ, けゖげ, こ𛄲 (𛄲)ご, さざ, しじ, すず, せぜ, そぞ, ただ, ちぢ, つっづ, てで, とど, な, に, ぬ, ね, の, はばぱ, ひびぴ, ふぶぷ, へべぺ, ほぼぽ, ま, み, む, め, も, やゃ, 𛀆, ゆゅ, 𛀁, よょ, らら゚, りり゚, るる゚, れれ゚, ろろ゚, わゎわ゙, ゐ𛅐 (𛅐)ゐ゙, 𛄟 (𛄟), ゑ𛅑 (𛅑)ゑ゙, を𛅒 (𛅒)を゙, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ

Etymology 2

• Forms beginning with だ or で: From the particle で (de) or である (de aru). The lemma form だ itself is a contraction of であ, clipping of である (de aru).
• Forms beginning with な: From classical Japanese なる (naru), whence Modern Japanese な (na, na-inflection ending).

Verb

だ • (da) 

1. (auxiliary) Following parts of speech that do not inflect by themselves, including nouns, na-adjectives, adverbs and postpositional phrases.
   1. to be

      彼(かれ)は無(む)実(じつ)だ。

      Kare wa mujitsu da.

      He is innocent.

      冬(ふゆ)休(やす)みは明日(あした)からだ。

      Fuyu yasumi wa ashita kara da.

      Winter vacation is from tomorrow. (Winter vacation starts from tomorrow.)

      私(わたし)が子(こ)供(ども)だった頃(ころ)

      watashi ga kodomo datta koro

      when I was a child

      美(び)人(じん)で優(やさ)しい人(ひと)

      bijin de yasashii hito

      a person who is beautiful and kind

      大(だい)学(がく)生(せい)ならこれくらいはできるはずです。

      Daigakusei nara kore kurai wa dekiru hazu desu.

      This should be easy for a college student.

   2. should; be obliged to; ought to

      汚(お)物(ぶつ)は消(しょう)毒(どく)だ。

      Obutsu wa shōdoku da.

      The filth should be disinfected.

      お代(か)わりだ。

      Okawari da.

      (Of a second helping) one more please.

      二(に)度(ど)と来(く)るんじゃない！

      Nido to kuru n ja nai!

      Never come again!

2. (auxiliary) Some forms also follow inflectable words.
   1. です follows i-adjectives, as the standard polite terminal form for i-adjectives.

      遅(おそ)いですね。

      Osoi desu ne.

      You are too slow.

   2. だろう / でしょう / なら can follow any inflectable word, forming suppletive volitional/polite volitional/conditional forms.

      飲(の)むなら乗(の)るな！

      Nomu nara noru na!

      If you are to drink, don't drive!

      彼(かれ)はきっと成(せい)功(こう)するだろう。

      Kare wa kitto seikō suru darō.

      He will surely succeed.

3. (auxiliary) Not following any words, but used before some conjunctives or in some inflected forms, to represent the aforementioned statement.

   山(やま)をなめてはいけない。でないと死(し)んじゃうよ。

   Yama o namete wa ikenai. De nai to shinjau yo.

   Don't underestimate the difficulty of mountaineering. If you do, you could die.

Usage notes

• だ is the only commonly used modern Japanese verb with the terminal form (終止形) distinct from the attributive form (連体形). As relative clauses in Japanese are syntactically equivalent to attributives, relative clauses must end in the attributive form. Thus だ, as a terminal form, cannot appear at the end of a relative clause. The following forms are used instead of だ in such places:

• Use の after nouns, adverbs or prepositional phrases. But use な before the nominalizer の.

学(がく)生(せい)のアリス

gakusei no Arisu

Alice, who is a student

ここまでのあらすじ

koko made no arasuji

the plot summary up to now

後(あと)味(あじ)もすっきりなのが特(とく)徴(ちょう)です。

Atoaji mo sukkiri na no ga tokuchō desu.

That the aftertaste is refreshing too is its distinguishing feature.

今日(きょう)は休(やす)みなので早(はや)起(お)きしてなかった。

Kyō wa yasumi na no de hayaoki shite nakatta.

I didn't get up early because it is a holiday today.

• Use な after a na-adjective.

実(じっ)家(か)が裕(ゆう)福(ふく)な友人(ゆうじん)

jikka ga yūfuku na yūjin

a friend whose family is rich

• Alternatively, である can be used when following nouns and denoting the meaning "to be".

学(がく)生(せい)であるアリス

gakusei de aru Arisu

Alice, who is a student

• This word is phonologically an enclitic, similar to particles. It is classified as 助動詞 (jodōshi, “auxiliary verb”) in traditional Japanese grammar.

Conjugation

Conjugation of "だ" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Stem forms
Imperfective (未然形)	だろ では	daro de wa
Continuative (連用形)	だっ で	da' de
Terminal (終止形)	だ	da
Attributive (連体形)	である な	de aru na
Hypothetical (仮定形)	であれ なら	de are nara
Imperative (命令形)	-	-
Key constructions
Passive	-	-
Causative	-	-
Potential	-	-
Volitional	だろう	darō
Negative	ではない じゃない¹ でない	de wa nai ja nai¹ de nai
Negative continuative	ではなくて じゃなくて¹	de wa nakute ja nakute¹
Formal	です	desu
Perfective	だった	datta
Conjunctive	で	de
Hypothetical conditional	ならば であれば	naraba de areba
¹ Colloquial contraction

Synonyms

• である (de aru)
• や (ya) (Kansai dialect)
• じゃ (ja) (Some western dialects. Also used in archaic speech in fictional characters or as slang)
• じゃい (jai) (dialect or slang)

See also

• です (desu) (polite)
• ございます (gozaimasu) (humble)

Japanese basic inflections

			Verbs	-i adjectives	nouns and -na adjectives
Nonpast	Plain	Affirmative	Use the dictionary form	stem + い (-i)	noun + だ (da) (noun + である (de aru))
		Negative	mizenkei + ない (-nai)	stem + くない (-ku nai)	noun + で（は）ない (de [wa] nai)
	Polite	Affirmative	ren'yōkei + ます (-masu)	stem + いです (-i desu)	noun + です (desu)
		Negative	ren'yōkei + ません (-masen)	stem + くないです (-ku nai desu) stem + くありません (-ku arimasen)	noun + で（は）ないです (de [wa] nai desu) noun + で（は）ありません (de [wa] arimasen)
Past	Plain	Affirmative	ren'yōkei (with onbin sound changes for Group I verbs) + た (-ta)	stem + かった (-katta)	noun + だった (datta) (noun + であった (de atta))
		Negative	mizenkei + なかった (-nakatta)	stem + くなかった (-ku nakatta)	noun + で（は）なかった (de [wa] nakatta)
	Polite	Affirmative	ren'yōkei + ました (-mashita)	stem + かったです (-katta desu)	noun + でした (deshita)
		Negative	ren'yōkei + ませんでした (-masen deshita)	stem + くなかったです (-ku nakatta desu) stem + くありませんでした (-ku arimasen deshita)	noun + で（は）なかったです (de [wa] nakatta desu) noun + で（は）ありませんでした (de [wa] arimasen deshita)
Volitional	Plain		mizenkei (of Group I verbs) + う (-u > -o) mizenkei (of other verbs) + よう (-yō)	†stem + かろう (-karō) (stem + いだろう (-i darō))	noun + だろう (darō) (noun + であろう (de arō))
	Polite		ren'yōkei + ましょう (-mashō)	(stem + いでしょう (-i deshō))	noun + でしょう (deshō)
Conjunctive			ren'yōkei (with onbin sound changes for Group I verbs) + て (-te)	stem + くて (-kute)	noun + で (de) (noun + であって (de atte))
Hypothetical conditional			kateikei + ば (-ba)	stem + ければ (-kereba)	(noun + であれば (de areba))

Etymology 3

Pronoun

だ • (da) 

1. (Tsugaru) who

   Synonym: (standard Japanese) だれ (dare)

   • 2018, 青森県警察 [Aomori Prefectural Police], 方言を活用した広報標語: 交通事故防止広報 [1]

     な、だだば　通(つう)じなければ　偽息子(にせむすこ)

     na, da daba tsūjinakereba nise-musuko

     (Tsugaru and standard Japanese) "Who are you? [in Tsugaru dialect]" — if he doesn't understand, that's not your son