「は」Mark the topic
「は」Mark the topic
Marks the topic, as for X
The particle は is a fundamental element of Japanese grammar, primarily used to mark the topic of a sentence. It is often translated as as for or regarding.
To grasp the essence of は, it is important to first understand what a topic (主題) is. The topic in a sentence can be either single or multiple entities, animate or inanimate. The topic serves as the starting point for the information that follows. A topic is usually information previously established, either from the ongoing conversation, recent context, or general common knowledge.
A topic is already known to the listener and considered old information. For information to be formally acknowledged as new or specific, the particle が is typically used.
Consider the following example:
消防士だ。
I am a/the firefighter.
He/she is a/the firefighter.
They are (the) firefighters.
This sentence is a perfectly valid sentence in Japanese, but without context it does not tell us much, as you can probably tell by all the possible translations. By stating our topic, followed by は, we can express unambiguously what the sentence is about.
彼は消防士だ。
He is a firefighter.
Now the topic is clearly indicated as 彼 he. Thus, a Japanese sentence typically follows a topic-explanation structure, with the topic marked by は followed by an explanation. Here, 彼 is the topic and 消防士だ is a firefighter is the explanation.
彼は + 消防士だ。
Topic + Explanation
Special Note
When used as a particle, は is pronounced as wa, not ha.
How は differs from other particles
は is a unique particle and differs from が and other Japanese particles. It can be useful to think of all particles besides は as Case Particles, with は belonging to its own Topic Particle category.
Case Particles | が | を | に | で | へ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Topic Particle | は | ||||
The Topic Particle は is unique because it either replaces or combines with one of the Case Particles to mark the topic of a sentence. The chart below shows how Case Particles combine with は when marking the topic of a sentence.
が | を | に | で | へ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Case Particle | が | を | に | で | へ |
Used as the Topic with は | は | は | には | では | へは |
Contrasting は with が
Consider a sentence that uses the subject particle が:
伯父さんが先生だ。
Uncle is a/the teacher.
This sentence implies that the fact Uncle is a/the teacher is new information to the listener. For example, it might be used when identifying who the teacher is for someone who didn't know before.
However, when 伯父さん is marked with は, the nuance changes significantly:
伯父さんは先生だ。
Uncle is a/the teacher.
This sentence typically has one of two nuances:
A general statement about someone already known to the listener.
A contrasting statement implying Uncle (as opposed to someone else) is a teacher.
Thus, the choice between は and が significantly affects sentence nuance.
Special Note
Particles in Japanese are called 助詞.
Formation
私は