Episode 6
The Topic Marker は
Understand what は really does — it marks the topic of your sentence, the thing you're talking about.
You've been using は in every sentence since episode 1 — now it's time to understand what it really does. は marks the topic of the sentence: "As for this thing, here's what I'm saying about it."
What You'll Learn#
as for ~
Marks the topic of the sentence. Everything after は is the comment about that topic. Written は, pronounced 'wa'.
New vocabulary: これ (this), 本 (book), さん (Mr./Ms.), 出口 (exit), あちら (over there, polite)
Lesson Transcript#
Review#
Quick drills from previous episodes — where is the bathroom? How are you?
Topic + Comment#
The structure: Topic は Comment
I'm Tanaka — as for me, Tanaka:
I'm American — same topic, different comment:
Topics Can Be Anything#
The exit is over there — the topic is "the exit":
This is a book:
これは本です。 — As for this, it's a book.
Mr. Tanaka is a student:
田中さんは学生です。 — As for Mr. Tanaka, he's a student.
Related Grammar#
- 〜です (is/am/are) — Deep dive into the copula pattern
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