Quick Question: What is 'だ'?
 

I've looked for it [ 'だ'] on the online dictionary and it says 'plain copula' i.e. a connecting word. But that isn't much help to me.
Is it the plain form of deshita? Or is it used to add 'よ’　or ’な’　as in ’きれい　だね’ or both? :confused:

だ is used in almost the same manner as です when talking in informal style :)

Thanks! So です＝　だ　and でした =　だった?

not exactly, sometimes だ　could be omitted, for instance: その猫はかわいいです　becomes just: その猫はかわいい

Would it be strange to add 'だ' at the end of the sentence you gave me? Or does it depend on whether its spoken or written informally as a diary entry?

as far as I know its impossible to put だ　in the end of this sentence, as it ends up with ”い" adjective; all sentences whose finishing word is such kind of adjective dont need だ

cool. That's completely cleared up then. Now I have no reason to procrastinate on my Japanese diary entry assessment task ^.^

I must ask: Do you really speak Japanese?

I ask because what you stated is not true and I know for a fact that it isn't true for Kobe, either.

Truth is that Japanese speakers don't use だ nearly as often as Japanese-learners do. One needs to be at least a little angry, excited, irritated, etc. to use it. It's something one hears much more often in anime, dramas, etc. than in real life.

I really find it hard to come up with any sentence I would actually say that ends with だ.

The closest I use regularly is probably そうなんだ or ～だったんだ but even that isn`t all that often, and it certainly isn`t the same usage as です.

だけど,　だね, だよ, だよね are 500 times more common. At least they are in my speech. If I were pressed I`d probably only say I use だ alone when surprised or something... うわ、・・・だ！　Or maybe when talking to myself. これだ！

Q: Then what is だ? And what is おわったら?
 

:confused: Then what's だ?? ...Oh, and what is おわったら? It stems from おわる doesn't it? If that's right it's some sort of variation of 'to finish/end' ?

P.S. Since no one commented on the でした＝だった part, I assume it's correct...