kaiyakukin wa takai.

topic particle

Breakdown of kaiyakukin wa takai.

• 高たかい: high
• 解約金かいやくきん: a cancellation fee

Questions & Answers about kaiyakukin wa takai.

How do you read 解約金?

It is read かいやくきん.

• 解約 = cancellation, termination of a contract
• 金 = money, fee, charge

So 解約金 is a compound noun meaning a cancellation fee, termination fee, or penalty fee.

What does は do in this sentence?

は marks the topic of the sentence.

So 解約金は高い。 is literally closer to:

• As for the cancellation fee, it is high.

In natural English, this is often just translated as:

• The cancellation fee is high.

A very common beginner mistake is to think は always means is. It does not. It marks what the sentence is talking about.

Why is it 高い and not a verb like is high?

In Japanese, 高い is an い-adjective, and い-adjectives can act as the predicate by themselves.

So:

• 解約金は高い。 = complete sentence

There is no missing verb here. Japanese does not need a separate is in this kind of sentence.

This is different from English, where you need is:

• The cancellation fee is high.

But in Japanese, 高い already does that job.

Can I say 解約金は高いです?