What's another word for 'desu' in Japanese?

Question

What's another word for 'desu' in Japanese?

Answer 1

to be super polite you can say

"de gozaimasu" in place of desu.

There are lots of regional dialect alternatives to desu too.

ja ken

da rah

da beh

but only use these one to get a laugh out of your Japanese listener.

T.T.C.

Answer 2

There is no other word for desu.  Desu is used to connect subjects and predicates (i.e. a verb).  

It can be used in other contexts, but it is no longer being used in the same way.  

For example, the sentence 'Watashi wa Aaron desu." Means "I am Aaron" with watashi being I and desu meaning am.  

Answer 3

Other dialects:

ja

nan ja

jakken

ya ken

desu ken

ya de

ya te

ya gana

ya kara

da su

da wa

da de (+yo)

da tte

da tte ba yo (only Naruto use this :-)

Answer 4

desu literally translated into English means "to be," so there is little alternative other than maybe what the person above me said. In informal situations, most Japanese people completely take desu off of the end of their sentences, and if they intend to ask a question, they will raise the pitch of their voice at the end of a sentence to indicate a question is being asked.