Breakdown of shimin wa kono toshokan o tsukaimasu.
はwa
topic particle
をo
direct object particle
図書館toshokan
library
使うtsukau
to use
Questions & Answers about shimin wa kono toshokan o tsukaimasu.
What does は do in this sentence?
は marks the topic of the sentence.
In 市民 は この 図書館 を 使います, 市民 is the topic: you are talking about citizens and then saying what they do.
A natural way to think about it is:
- As for citizens, they use this library.
- Citizens use this library.
In many beginner sentences, は often looks like the English subject marker, but it is not exactly the same thing. It marks what the sentence is about.
Why is を attached to 図書館?
を marks the direct object of the verb.
The verb here is 使います (to use), and the thing being used is この図書館 (this library). So:
- この図書館 を 使います
- use this library
A very common pattern is:
- [someone] は [thing] を [verb]
- topic + object + verb
So this sentence follows a basic Japanese word order pattern.
Why does この come before 図書館?
