connecting to amazon aws linux server by ssh on mac

I created a new keypair and downloaded it to my mac, then set up a new Amazon Linux AMI server with that keypair and my security group. Now I need to put the keypair .pem file that I downloaded in a .ssh file in my users folder? I am unable to create a folder called ".ssh" however because of the name.

Where do I put the keypair on my mac? and what chmods or other commands are then needed to connect to the server from my linux bash? I know "ssh my public DNS" but what other permissions or anything else should I be aware of? Its a newbie question. Thanks.