Questions & Answers about kyou wa samui desu.
What does は do in 今日は寒いです?
は is the topic marker. It tells the listener that you’re talking about 今日 (“today”) as the general topic. Literally it’s like saying, “As for today, (it) is cold.” Note that although it’s written as は, it’s pronounced wa when used as a particle.
Why is the subject (like “it” or “the weather”) omitted?
In Japanese, if the subject is obvious from context, you usually drop it. Here everyone understands you’re talking about the weather or “it” in general, so you don’t need to say それ or 天気. English forces you to say “It is cold,” but Japanese lets you skip that.
What role does です play here? And can it be dropped?
です is the polite ending (the copula) that makes the sentence more formal. With an i-adjective like 寒い, adding です doesn’t change the meaning—it just raises the politeness level. In casual speech you can drop です and simply say 今日は寒い.
What kind of adjective is 寒い, and how does it conjugate?
寒い is an i-adjective (形容詞). You can tell because it ends in い and conjugates without だ/です. For example:
- Past tense (polite): 寒かったです
- Past tense (casual):
