Breakdown of sore wa yuukanna koudou deshita.
Questions & Answers about sore wa yuukanna koudou deshita.
は marks それ as the topic of the sentence.
So それは means something like:
- as for that
- that, speaking of it
- that was ...
In this sentence, the speaker is taking それ and saying something about it: it was a brave action.
A very literal breakdown is:
- それ = that
- は = topic marker
- 勇敢な行動 = brave action
- でした = was
So the structure is basically: As for that, it was a brave action.
Both are possible in Japanese, but they do different jobs.
- は marks the topic
- が often marks the subject and can sound more specific or focused
In それは勇敢な行動でした, the sentence sounds like a normal statement about that thing/event.
If you said それが勇敢な行動でした, it could sound more like:
- That was the brave action
- That is the one that was brave
- a contrastive or identifying statement, depending on context
So for a plain descriptive sentence, は is the more natural choice.
