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Questions & Answers about neko ha tiisai desu.
What does the particle は do in this sentence?
は is the topic marker. It tells you that 猫 (“cat”) is what the sentence is about. In English we often translate it as “as for the cat…,” though we don’t say that literally. It sets the stage for the rest of the sentence.
Why is は used here instead of the subject marker が?
Although は and が can both mark subjects in different contexts, は emphasizes the topic or known information, while が introduces new or emphasized information. In “猫は小さいです,” you’re talking about the cat as a known topic and stating something about it (its size). If you said “猫が小さいです,” you’d be emphasizing that “it’s the cat (and not something else) that is small.”
What part of speech is 小さい, and why does it end in い?
小さい (ちいさい, chiisai) is an i-adjective (形容詞). I-adjectives in Japanese always end in い in their dictionary (plain) form. They can directly modify nouns (“小さい猫” = “a small cat”) or serve as predicates in sentences (“猫は小さい”).
Why is there です at the end, and what does it mean?
です is the polite copula, equivalent to the English verb “to be” in polite speech. It turns 小さい into a polite predicate:
- Plain: 猫は小さい (The cat is small.)
- Polite: 猫は小さいです (The cat is small.)
How would you say the same sentence in casual/plain style?
Because 小さい is an i-adjective, you can drop です entirely in casual speech. Just say:
猫は小さい。
If it were a na-adjective like 静か (quiet), you would add だ in plain style:
猫は静かだ。
Why does Japanese place the adjective after the topic instead of before the noun like in English?
Japanese follows a Subject-Object-Verb (and Topic-Comment) order. In predicates, the adjective (comment) comes after the topic and before the verb or copula. When adjectives modify nouns directly, though, they still come before the noun:
- Predicate: 猫は小さいです (The cat is small.)
- Attributive: 小さい猫です (It’s a small cat.)
How do you pronounce 小さい, and how is it written in hiragana?
It’s pronounced chiisai (ちいさい). In hiragana: ちいさい. Note the double “i” sound, often romanized as ii.
Why is there no article like “the” or “a” before 猫?
Japanese does not have articles. Context and particles carry the meaning that English conveys with “a,” “an,” or “the.” Here, 猫は simply means “(as for) the cat” or “cats” in general, depending on context.