Question 1

Why is there は after 昨日 rather than に, and what does it do?

Accepted Answer

- は here is the topic marker, so 昨日は means “as for yesterday…”  
- Time words like 昨日, 今日, 明日 can drop に when they act as adverbials.  
- Choosing は instead of simply omitting a particle also adds a slight contrastive nuance: “Yesterday (unlike other days), I took the day off.”

Question 2

Why is 仕事 marked with を? Isn’t 休む intransitive?

Accepted Answer

- In 仕事を休む, 休む is used transitively: “to take a break/absent oneself from [something].”  
- The thing you’re absent from (in this case “work”) gets を.

Question 3

I thought 休む meant “to rest” and was intransitive. How can it take を?

Accepted Answer

Japanese 休む has two main senses:  
  • Intransitive “to rest” (木陰で休む).  
  • Transitive “to take a break/absent oneself from [work, school, etc.]” (会社を休む).  
Both share the same spelling but differ in whether they take を.

Question 4

What tense and politeness level is 休みました, and how would I say it informally?

Accepted Answer

- 休みました = polite past form of 休む (“took the day off”).  
- Casual/plain past is 休んだ, so you’d say 昨日は仕事を休んだ in informal speech.

Question 5

Do I need to include 私は at the beginning?

Accepted Answer

No. Japanese often omits the subject when it’s obvious from context.  
Adding 私は (私は昨日は仕事を休みました) is grammatically fine but usually redundant.

Question 6

Can I reorder the sentence, for example put 昨日 at the end or add a comma?

Accepted Answer

- Word order is relatively flexible. Common versions:  
  • 昨日、仕事を休みました  
  • 昨日は仕事を休みました  
- Placing 昨日 at the end (e.g. 仕事を休みました、昨日) is grammatically possible but sounds marked or poetic without special context.

kinou ha sigoto wo yasumimasita.

Breakdown of kinou ha sigoto wo yasumimasita.

Questions & Answers about kinou ha sigoto wo yasumimasita.

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