kare ha sigoto no siriai desu.

When は is used as the topic particle, it is pronounced wa, not ha.

So in this sentence:

• 彼は = kare wa

This is one of the most important spelling-pronunciation exceptions in Japanese. The character is still written は, but in this grammatical role it is read wa.

は marks the topic of the sentence.

In 彼は仕事の知り合いです, 彼 is the topic, so the sentence is talking about him.

A natural way to think about it is:

• As for him, he is a work acquaintance.

This does not always match English word-for-word, but it helps explain the grammar. Japanese often organizes sentences as topic + comment.

の connects two nouns. In this sentence, it shows that 知り合い is related to 仕事.

So:

• 仕事 = work
• 知り合い = acquaintance
• 仕事の知り合い = an acquaintance from work / a work acquaintance

You can think of の here as meaning something like:

• of
• from
• related to

The exact English translation depends on context, but the basic job of の is to link nouns.

知り合い means acquaintance—someone you know, but not necessarily someone you are close to.

By contrast:

• 友達 = friend
• 知り合い = acquaintance

So this sentence suggests a more distant relationship than friendship. It means the speaker knows him through work, but it does not automatically mean they are close friends or coworkers.

Not exactly.

仕事の知り合い is broader than coworker. It can mean someone you know through work, such as:

• a client
• a business contact
• someone in the same industry
• someone you met at work
• possibly a coworker

If you specifically want to say coworker/colleague, Japanese often uses:

• 同僚
• 会社の人 in some contexts

So 仕事の知り合い does not necessarily mean the person works at the same company.

Japanese does not normally use articles like a, an, or the.

So 知り合い can mean:

• an acquaintance
• the acquaintance
• sometimes just acquaintance in a general sense

The exact meaning depends on context. Japanese often leaves this kind of information unstated because it is understood from the situation.

です makes the sentence polite and works like the English is in this kind of sentence.

So:

• 彼は仕事の知り合いです。 = polite
• 彼は仕事の知り合いだ。 = plain / less polite

In beginner terms, you can think of です here as the polite copula, used to say that one thing is another thing.

Sometimes, but not always.

彼 does mean he, but Japanese often avoids pronouns when the person is already clear from context. In real conversation, speakers frequently use:

• the person’s name
• their title
• no subject at all

Also, 彼 can sometimes mean boyfriend depending on context, though in this sentence it clearly means he.

So the sentence is grammatically fine, but in natural conversation Japanese may often omit 彼 if the listener already knows who is being discussed.

The structure is:

• 彼 = he
• は = topic marker
• 仕事の知り合い = work acquaintance
• です = polite is

So the pattern is:

• Topic + noun phrase + です

This is a very common Japanese sentence pattern. A useful breakdown is:

• 彼は = as for him
• 仕事の知り合いです = is a work acquaintance

You can use that literal breakdown to understand the grammar, but it is not natural English.

A literal grammar guide might be:

• 彼は = as for him
• 仕事の = of work / work-related
• 知り合い = acquaintance
• です = is

But natural English would be:

• He is an acquaintance from work.
• He is a work acquaintance.

Literal translations are useful for learning structure, but they often sound unnatural if you translate them directly into English.