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Questions & Answers about susi ha takai desu.
Why is the particle は used after 寿司?
The particle は (pronounced “wa” here) is the topic marker. It tells the listener, “I’m talking about sushi,” and the rest of the sentence comments on that topic: “(As for) sushi, it’s expensive.” It doesn’t necessarily mark the grammatical subject (that’s usually が), but rather what you want to discuss.
Can I replace は with が and say 寿司が高いです? What’s the difference?
Yes, you can, but the nuance changes.
- 寿司は高いです states a general fact: “Sushi is expensive (in general).”
- 寿司が高いです often emphasizes sushi as the specific subject or new information:
• Answering “What’s expensive?” → 寿司が高いです
• Or contrasting sushi with something else.
In everyday general statements, は is more natural.
Why does 高い end with い, and why is です added after it?
高い is an i-adjective, so it naturally ends in い. In polite speech, you attach the copula です to the adjective when it functions as the predicate: 高いです (“is expensive”). In casual speech, you can simply say 高い without です.
What’s the difference between 寿司は高いです and 高い寿司です?
- 寿司は高いです is a complete sentence: “Sushi is expensive.”
- 高い寿司です is a noun phrase with です for politeness: “It’s expensive sushi.” Here 高い directly modifies 寿司, and です just closes the phrase politely.
How do I turn 寿司は高いです into a question?
Add the question particle か at the end:
寿司は高いですか。
In casual conversation you can drop ですか and just rise your intonation:
寿司は高い？
How do I say that sushi wasn’t expensive, or that sushi is not expensive?
Past tense polite:
寿司は高かったです。 (“Sushi was expensive.”)
Negative polite:
寿司は高くないです。 or more formally 寿司は高くありません。 (“Sushi is not expensive.”)
Casual forms drop です:
寿司は高くなかった (past), 寿司は高くない (present negative).
Why can’t I say 寿司は高いだ instead of 高いです?
Because i-adjectives already carry their own “be” meaning in the ending い, so they don’t take だ. To make them polite, you use です. Saying 高いだ would mix an i-adjective with the plain copula だ, which is ungrammatical.
What are the readings for the kanji 高, and how does it become 高い?
The kanji 高 has:
• Kun-yomi (native Japanese): たか (as in たかい)
• On-yomi (Sino-Japanese): コウ (kō), used in compounds like 高価（こうか）.
To form the i-adjective, take the kun reading たか and add the adjective ending い → たかい (高い).
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