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Questions & Answers about sigoto ha taihen desu.
What role does は play in this sentence?
は is the topic‐marker. It tells the listener that you’re talking about “work” (仕事) as the topic. You could translate it loosely as “As for work…”
Why is there no word for “my” or “I” in 仕事は大変です?
Japanese often omits subjects and possessives when context makes them clear. Here, “work” is the topic, and it’s understood you’re talking about your own job or work in general.
What part of speech is 大変 (たいへん)?
大変 is a な-adjective (na-adjective) meaning “tough,” “hard,” or “a lot to handle.”
Why don’t we say 大変なです instead of 大変です?
When a な-adjective modifies a noun directly, you use な (e.g. 大変な仕事 “a tough job”). But when it stands as the predicate before です, you drop the な and say 大変です.
What is the function of です here?
です is the polite copula (similar to “is/are”). It attaches to adjectives or nouns to make the sentence polite.
Could I say 仕事が大変です instead? What’s the difference?
Yes, you could. Using が (subject‐marker) emphasizes “work” as the subject or introduces it as new information: “It’s work that’s hard.” Using は assumes the topic (work) is already known or under discussion.
How would I express this idea in casual speech?
Drop です or replace it with だ. For example:
• 仕事は大変だ。 (plain form)
Or even just:
• 仕事、大変！
Are there any nuances to using 大変 here?
大変です is a fairly neutral way to say “It’s hard.” In stronger complaints you might hear 大変だよ or intensifiers like すごく大変です. Conversely, if you want to sound positive (e.g. “very busy but rewarding”), you might choose words like 忙しいです (is busy) or 充実しています (is fulfilling).