I'm unsure how to write the sentence "That (near you) is a pencil." in
Japanese. Is it "Sono pen wa desu." or "Sore wa pen desu." ? Or are both of
them right/wrong? I'm a beginner so I can only read and write in hiragana at
the moment (haven't started with kanji and katakana yet).

Apreciate your help!
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2019-02-08T23:18:15.837
65386
2019-02-09T09:17:05.043
32892
question
grammar translation english-to-japanese hiragana
Which sentence is grammatically correct?
> それはえんぴつです。

Means "That is a pencil." The other sentence is ungrammatical, but you could
make it grammatical by adding a word, such as:

> その[ペン]{ぺん}は **あかい** です。

"That pen is red."
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2019-02-09T01:29:41.357
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2019-02-09T09:17:05.043
2019-02-09T09:17:05.043
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answer
"Sono pen wa desu" breaks down for 2 reasons, one grammatical, one logical:

  * 'desu' needs a predicate (see mamster's example): for mere existence you need 'arimasu'.
  * As soon as you write "sono pen" you take it for granted that it's a pen, just as in English you cannot start a question with 'this pen' to ask whether it's a pen.
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2019-02-09T09:12:37.680
65397
2019-02-09T09:12:37.680
30039
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answer