The grammar of a Japanese sentence is different from English.  In English we might say: I have some bread. The way the Japanese say it would come out something like: I bread having am. They get right to the theme of the sentence very quickly. Like a newspaper story. A story about someone who has a loaf of bread. Probably later in the newspaper…

Second Lesson.

The nominative case is generally indicated by the particle wa…placed after the subjective word…

To Have: motsu. Present tense.

I have: Watakushi wa motte imasu.

You have: Anata wa motte imasu.

He has: Kare wa motte imasu.

She has: Kano-jo wa motte imasu.

It has: Sore wa motte imasu.

We have: Watakushitachi wa motte imasu.

You have: Anatachi wa motte imasu.

They have: Karera wa motte imasu.

Motte means having or holding, and imasu corresponds, in this particular case to am, is, are, so that Watakushi wa motte imasu, translated literally corresponds to I am having or I am holding = I have.

-See Japanese Conversation-Grammar by Oreste Vaccari and Mrs Enko Elisa Vaccari. It’s a beautifully laid out book, with simple clear writing.