は
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About a minute with the meaning, formation and examples helps a pattern stick. After that, the review queue brings it back at the right time.
Meaning
Marks the topic of a sentence: what follows is said about that topic, like "as for X." It can also mark contrast between topics.
Conjugation
N + は + comment: N1 + は + N2 + です
Examples
Show translation
私は学生です。
田中さんは先生です。
今日は暑いです。
犬は大きいです。
私は学生ですが、妹は先生です。
私はコーヒーは飲みません。
Common Mistakes
- Wrong私わ学生です。Correct私は学生です。
Why: The topic particle is written は, even though it is pronounced "wa"; わ is incorrect here.
- Wrongだれは来ましたか。Correctだれが来ましたか。
Why: Use が after the question word だれ when asking who came, rather than は.
- WrongこんにちわCorrectこんにちは
Why: This greeting comes from the topic-particle phrase 今日は…, so it is written は even though は is pronounced "wa" here.
Key points
Written は but pronounced "wa" when it is a particle. At this level, think of は as marking a topic that is already known or being introduced; が often marks new information and is used after question words such as だれ, which is covered separately. は can replace が or を when the noun is made the topic or contrasted, as in コーヒーは飲みません. It is often omitted when the topic is obvious, especially 私は in self-introductions.
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