hon wa takai desu ka.

topic particle

Breakdown of hon wa takai desu ka.

• です: to be
• 本ほん: book
• 高たかい: expensive

Questions & Answers about hon wa takai desu ka.

What does the particle は do in 本は高いですか？

は is the topic‐marking particle. It tells us that “本” (book) is the thing we’re talking about. By saying 本は, you’re essentially saying “As for the book…,” and then asking whether it’s expensive.

Why is 高い directly followed by です without any extra word?

高い is an い-adjective. In polite Japanese, you can attach です directly to an い-adjective to make it a polite predicate. So 高いです simply means “is expensive” in a polite style.

What exactly is です doing here?

です is the polite copula (roughly “is/am/are”). It turns the adjective 高い (“expensive”) into a polite statement. Without です, you’d be using a more casual style: 本は高いか？ or 本は高い？

Why is the question marker か placed at the very end?

In Japanese, the particle か at the end of a sentence turns it into a yes-no question. Polite questions usually end with ですか. You can think of か as equivalent to a rising tone plus “…?” in English.

Why isn’t there a pronoun like “it” or “that” in 本は高いですか？