tomodachi wa hausubooru o tsukau.

My friend uses a house ball.

Breakdown of tomodachi wa hausubooru o tsukau.

• は: topic particle
• を: direct object particle
• 友とも達だち: friend
• 使つかう: to use

Questions & Answers about tomodachi wa hausubooru o tsukau.

How do you read this sentence?

A natural reading is:

ともだち は ハウスボール を つかう。

Word by word:

• 友達 = ともだち
• は = pronounced wa here
• ハウスボール = hausu bōru
• を = pronounced o
• 使う = つかう

So the whole sentence sounds like:

ともだちは ハウスボールを つかう。

Why is は pronounced wa instead of ha?

This is one of the most common beginner questions.

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

So in this sentence:

• 友達は = tomodachi wa

Here, は marks 友達 as the topic, meaning something like:

• As for the friend, ...
• or more naturally in English, just The friend ... / My friend ... / A friend ..., depending on context.

This is a special pronunciation used only when は functions as a particle.

What does は do in this sentence?