A few questions...

[EricaJ]

I'm totally new to learning Japanese, so I'm kind of flying by the seat of my pants, lol! So any help would be greatly appreciated!

I've noticed while learning the katakana, that the 'tsu' symbol is used in the spelling of some words but is not necessarily pronounced. What does it mean when it is not pronounced (what purpose does it serve/represent), and, when reading a word without access to the proper audio pronunciation, how do I tell if it is supposed to be silent or not?

I'm also wondering about 'desu'. Is there a guideline of some sort as to what words it can be applied to?

Cheers,
Erica

[Drabant]

I'm pretty much a beginner myself, so take what I write with a grain of salt.

The small tsu (っ in hiragana, ッ in katakana) means that the follow consonant sound should be long. This is something like resting on the consonant before continuing articulation. In roman letters this is represented with two consonants: イケ = ike ; イッケ = ikke

"Desu" has the meaning of "is" in it's comparative sense. For example "This is a dog" would be "Kore wa inu desu", but you would not use it to express something like "The dog is sitting on the bed."

You will have to make do with that until someone who really knows this comes along

[jaboyak]

Okay, here's a way to explain it that I hope helps you out a little. Bear in mind that it's a little hard to explain to a beginnner before they just get used to it and learn where and when to use it.

One way "desu" is used is to be a polite marker, but also as "is" or "are".

Examples:

Sore wa takai.
Sore wa takai desu.
That is expensive.

Both of these are grammatically correct, but in this situation, "desu" is used as a polite marker. In the plain/everyday form, "i" adjectives can properly end a sentence, whereas if you were talking to a stranger, you should add "desu" to mark your politeness

Sore wa kantan.
Sore wa kantan desu.
That is simple.

The first one is NOT grammatically correct. The "desu" is being used here for "is". This is where it gets kind of complicated. With "na" adjectives, the plain form would add "da" at the end of the sentence, which is the plain form of "desu" when it is used for "is" or "are".

As far as "He is sitting on the couch" goes, don't worry about that yet. You will learn that conjugation of the verb later, which is the -teiru form.

Anyway, I hope that helped a little... haha.

[QuackingShoe]

www.guidetojapanese.com is a lot more efficient

[EricaJ]

Thankyou Jaboyak, Drabant and QuackingShoe! Very helpful!! That was just enough to clarify for a beginner without being confusing.

Cheers!