topic marker (as for ...)

Wa marks the topic of the sentence, the thing you are talking about. It is written with the kana ha but pronounced wa. The comment about the topic follows it.

Examples

• 私わたしは日本人にほんじんです。

  Watashi wa nihonjin desu.

  I am Japanese.

• 東京とうきょうは大おおきい町まちです。

  Toukyou wa ookii machi desu.

  Tokyo is a big city.

Vocabulary in these examples

• 私 I; me
• 大きい big
• 町 town

Related patterns · Particles

• 〜が subject marker
• 〜を direct object marker
• 〜に（時間） at / on (a specific time)
• 〜に（行き先・相手） to (a destination or a person)
• 〜へ toward, to (direction)
• 〜で（場所） at / in (place where an action happens)