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Questions & Answers about kyou ha atui desu.
What is the function of the particle は in this sentence?
The particle は marks the topic of the sentence. In 今日は暑いです, it tells us “as for today,” and then the speaker comments that it’s hot. It sets the context rather than marking the grammatical subject.
Why is は pronounced “wa” when it’s written with the character for “ha”?
Although は is the hiragana for “ha,” when it functions as the topic particle it is always pronounced “wa.” This is simply a historical convention in Japanese.
Why not use が instead of は after 今日?
が marks a new or specific subject, often focusing on something coming into existence or introducing new information. は, on the other hand, sets an already-understood topic and contrasts or frames what follows. Here, we’re talking about “today” as the known topic, so は is natural.
What part of speech is 暑い, and how does it behave in the sentence?
暑い is an i-adjective. I-adjectives can directly modify nouns (e.g., 暑い日, “hot day”) or serve as predicates. When used as a predicate, they can stand alone in plain form (今日は暑い) or be followed by です for politeness (今日は暑いです).
Why is です used after 暑い, and what happens if you drop it?
です is the polite copula, used to make the sentence more formal. If you drop です, you switch to plain speech: 今日は暑い still means “Today is hot,” but it’s less formal—something you’d use with friends or in writing.
How do you make this sentence negative?
You turn the i-adjective into its negative form by changing 暑い → 暑くない, and you can still add です for politeness:
– Plain: 今日は暑くない。 (“Today isn’t hot.”)
– Polite: 今日は暑くないです。
How do you turn this into a question?
Add the question particle か at the end (and use rising intonation):
– 今日は暑いですか。 (“Is it hot today?”)
In casual speech you could also say 今日は暑い？ dropping です.
How can you add emphasis like “very hot today”?
Use an intensifier before 暑い, for example とても or 本当に:
– 今日はとても暑いです。 (“It’s very hot today.”)
– 今日は本当に暑いね。 (“It’s really hot today, isn’t it?”)