The Explanatory "んです"

You may have heard this quite a lot and wondered what it's all about! It is most often used, informally, when:

1) To explain something
2) To show emphasis

んです is short for のです; Informal usage;

plain form verb + んです

何をしているんですか。
nani o shite iru n desu ka .
Whatcha doing?

テレビを見ているんです。
terebi o mite iru n desu.
Watching TV.

-i Adjective + んです

この映画は面白いんです。
kono eiga wa omoshiroi n desu.
This movie was great!

And it can be used as a way to stress a point

パーティに行かないでしょう。
pa-ti ni ikanai deshou
You won't be able to make it to the party, right?

いいえ、僕は行くんです。
iie, boku wa iku n desu.
No, I'm going!

いったい、どうしたんですか？
ittai, doushita n desu ka.
Just what exactly happened (to you)!!!?

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Difference??

Submitted by Erico 島田 on Sat, 03/09/2013 - 04:22.

Please, what would be the difference between saying 「何をしていますか」 and 「何をしているんですか」？

i-adjective example

Submitted by Poposhka on Mon, 03/28/2011 - 09:11.

"this movie was great"

shouldn't this be

「この映画は面白かったんです」

or does it sound weird if you are explicitly using past tense in this case?

modern_trauma's picture

いったい、どうしたんですか？

Submitted by modern_trauma on Mon, 11/15/2010 - 12:52.

いったい、どうしたんですか？
ittai, doushita n desu ka.

か　isn't 'romanized'..

Thanks for this!

phreadom's picture

Thank you. I fixed the typo.

Submitted by phreadom on Mon, 11/15/2010 - 17:17.

Thank you. I fixed the typo. :) I should probably clean up the code some more when I get a chance. Thanks for the heads up!

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