Which sentence is grammatically correct?

Question

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!

Answer 1

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."

Answer 2

"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.