LESSON NOTES

Ultimate Japanese Particle Guide

#1
は (wa): The Topic-Marking Particle

CONTENTS
2 Vocabulary
2 Sample Sentences
2 Grammar

# 1
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VOCABULARY

Kanji Kana R omaji English C lass

topic marking
は は wa particle particle

SAMPLE SENTENCES

今日はクリスマスです。
Kyō wa Kurisumasu desu.

Today is Christmas.

GRAMMAR

T he Focus of t his Le sson is は ( wa ), t he Topic-Marking Part icle

Particles are a very important part of the Japanese language. The particles used in a
sentence give us critical information about the meaning. So if the wrong particles are
used, the whole meaning of the sentence could change. That's why it's very important to
know how to use the different particles in Japanese.

The word for "particle" in Japanese is 助詞 ( joshi).

*There is an important point to remember about this particle's pronunciation. This

particle is written as the hiragana は (ha ). However, when used as a part icle it is always
pronounce d wa .

1.Topic marke r

は ( wa ) is often referred to as the topic particle, because it come s af t e r t he t opic of

t he se nt e nce and t e lls t he list e ne r what t he se nt e nce is about . We can translate
this it as "as for..." or "speaking of..." in English.

Let's see how it functions in a sentence:

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1. 明日は土曜日です。
Ashita wa do-y ōbi desu.
“Tomorrow is Saturday.” (Lit. "As for tomorrow, it's Saturday.")

Let's break it down:

明日(Ashita ) は (wa ) 土曜日 (do-y ōbi) です(desu)

"tomorrow" "as for" "Saturday" copula equivalent

to "is"

Now let's take a look at a few more examples:

1. 出身はどこですか。
Shusshin wa doko desu ka.
“Where are you from?” (Lit. “As for your hometown, where is it?”)

2. 今日は雨です。
Ky ō wa ame desu.
“It's rainy today.” (Lit. "As for today, it's rainy.")

3. 沖縄は暑い。
Okinawa wa atsui.
“It’s hot in Okinawa.” (Lit. "As for Okinawa, it's hot.”)

2.Cont rast Marke r

We can also use this particle to show contrast between two items or ideas. When we use
it in this way, we mark the two items being contrasted with wa .

How does it work?

For example, if we want to contrast the object of a sentence, we re place t he part icle を
( o ) or が ( ga ) wit h は ( wa ).

Let's see how it functions in a sentence:

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1. 魚は食べます。 でも、肉は食べません。
Sakana wa tabemasu. Demo, niku wa tabemasen.
"I eat fish, but I don't eat meat."
*Please note that the topic, "I," as in "I eat," is implied in this sentence.

Let’s examine our example sentence closely.

Normally, “I eat fish” is:

1. 魚を食べます。
Sakana o tabemasu.
The object, which in this case is what I eat, is 魚 (sakana ). So 魚 (sakana ) is marked
by the particle を (o).

“I don’t eat meat” is:

1. 肉を食べません。
Niku o tabemasen.

So now to contrast these two sentences, we replace the particle を (o) with は (wa ):

1. 魚は食べます。でも、肉は食べません。
Sakana wa tabemasu. Demo, niku wa tabemasen.
By using は (wa ) in this sentence, we are putting a lot of contrast between the
two items. でも (demo) means “but.” Altogether it means "I eat fish, but I don’t
eat meat."

Let's take a look at a few more examples:

1. 時間はあります。でも、お金はありません。
Jikan wa arimasu. Demo, o-kane wa arimasen.
“I have time, but I don’t have money.”

2. 犬は好きです。でも、猫は嫌いです。
Inu wa suki desu. Demo, neko wa kirai desu.
“I like dogs, but I don’t like cats."

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3. アイスクリームは好きです。でも、ケーキは嫌いです。
Aisu kurīmu wa suki desu. Demo, kēki wa kirai desu.
"I like ice cream, but I don’t like cake."

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