～は

How to form it

• Noun + は + comment: 私は学生です
• Written は but read わ
• Often used with a contrast: 肉は食べませんが、魚は食べます

Register: Neutral

Explanation

Marks what the sentence is about. The rest of the sentence says something about it.

The topic is often already known to both speakers. は can also show contrast with something else.

Examples

1. 私は田中です。

   わたしはたなかです。

   I am Tanaka.

2. この本は面白いです。

   このほんはおもしろいです。

   This book is interesting.

3. 東京は人が多いです。

   とうきょうはひとがおおいです。

   Tokyo has a lot of people.

4. 今日は忙しいです。

   きょうはいそがしいです。

   I am busy today.

Compare with

• ～が: が marks the grammatical subject, often new information.

Common mistakes

• Reading は as は instead of わ when it marks the topic.
• Using は for new information that is the focus of the sentence, where が is more natural.