kanojo wa rippana isha desu.

topic particle

Breakdown of kanojo wa rippana isha desu.

• です: to be
• 医者いしゃ: doctor
• 彼女かのじょ: she

Questions & Answers about kanojo wa rippana isha desu.

Why is は pronounced wa here, not ha?

Because when は is used as the topic particle, it is pronounced wa.

So in this sentence:

• 彼女は = as for her / she
• Written: は
• Pronounced: wa

This is a very common point in Japanese:

• は as a normal syllable in a word: usually ha
• は as a particle: wa

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What does the particle は do in this sentence?

は marks the topic of the sentence.

In 彼女は立派な医者です, the topic is 彼女 (she / her), and the rest of the sentence says something about her.

A natural way to think about it is:

• 彼女は = As for her, ...
• 立派な医者です = (she) is an excellent / admirable doctor

So は does not exactly equal an English word. It shows what the sentence is about.

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Why is it 立派な and not 立派い?