hassoukigen wa ashita desu.

topic particle

Breakdown of hassoukigen wa ashita desu.

• です: to be
• 明日あした: tomorrow
• 発送期限はっそうきげん: a shipping deadline

Questions & Answers about hassoukigen wa ashita desu.

How do you read 発送期限　は　明日　です?

It is read:

はっそうきげん は あした です

A natural spoken rhythm would be:

Hassō kigen wa ashita desu.

A quick breakdown of the readings:

• 発送 = はっそう
• 期限 = きげん
• は = written ha but pronounced wa when it is the topic particle
• 明日 = あした
• です = desu

What does は do in this sentence?

は marks the topic of the sentence.

So in 発送期限は明日です, the topic is 発送期限. The sentence is talking about the shipping deadline and then saying what it is.

A useful way to think about it is:

• As for the shipping deadline, it is tomorrow.

English usually does not separate topic and comment as clearly as Japanese does, so this can feel unfamiliar at first.

Why is は pronounced wa here even though it is written ha?