kare wa puro no shashinka desu.

topic particle

Breakdown of kare wa puro no shashinka desu.

• です: to be
• の: possessive case particle
• 彼かれ: he

Questions & Answers about kare wa puro no shashinka desu.

Why is は pronounced wa here instead of ha?

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

So in this sentence:

彼はプロの写真家です。
it is read:

かれ は ぷろ の しゃしんか です
with は sounding like wa.

This is a special pronunciation rule for the particle は. When は is part of a regular word, it is usually pronounced ha.

What does the particle は do in this sentence?

は marks the topic of the sentence.

Here, 彼は means something like as for him or speaking of him. The sentence then says something about that topic:

• 彼は = as for him
• プロの写真家です = is a professional photographer

Japanese often works as topic + comment, rather than following English sentence structure exactly.

What does の mean in プロの写真家?