kanojo no hannou wa hayakatta.

topic particle

Breakdown of kanojo no hannou wa hayakatta.

• の: possessive case particle
• 速はやい: fast
• 彼女かのじょ: she

Questions & Answers about kanojo no hannou wa hayakatta.

What does の do in 彼女の反応?

の links two nouns. Here it shows possession or association, so 彼女の反応 means her reaction.

You can think of it as working a lot like of or 's in English:

• 彼女の反応 = her reaction
• literally, something like the reaction of her

It does not mean that she is actively doing something here; it just connects 彼女 and 反応.

Why is は after 反応?

は marks the topic of the sentence.

So in 彼女の反応は速かった, the topic is her reaction, and the sentence says something about that topic: it was quick.

A natural breakdown is:

• 彼女の反応 = her reaction
• は = as for...
• 速かった = was quick / was fast

So the whole sentence is basically:

• As for her reaction, it was quick.

That sounds awkward in English, but it shows how the Japanese structure works.

Why is 速かった used instead of 速い?