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ani ha kuruma wo untensimasu.

兄あに　は　車くるま　を　運転うんてんします。ani ha kuruma wo untensimasu.
My older brother drives a car.
FromLesson 8inHardcore Japanese
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Questions & Answers about ani ha kuruma wo untensimasu.

How do you read this sentence in hiragana and romaji, and what does each part correspond to?

Hiragana: あに は くるま を うんてんします
Romaji: ani wa kuruma o unten shimasu

Breakdown:
• 兄 (あに, ani): “(my) older brother”
• は (wa): topic marker
• 車 (くるま, kuruma): “car”
• を (o): object marker
• 運転 (うんてん, unten): “driving” (noun)
• します (shimasu): polite form of “to do,” here “to drive”

Why is は used after 兄 instead of が?

は marks the topic of the sentence—what you’re talking about—so “As for my older brother…”
が marks a subject that’s being newly introduced or emphasized. If you said 兄が車を運転します, you’d be emphasizing “It is my older brother (and not someone else) who drives the car.” Using は makes it a neutral statement about your brother.

Why do we use を after 車? Couldn’t we say 車で?

を marks 車 as the direct object of the transitive verb 運転する (“to drive [something]”).
車で would use で as an instrument or means (“by/with a car”), but with 運転する, the car is what you drive, not just the mode of transportation. So you need を to show “driving the car.”

Why is the verb at the end? English puts verbs in the middle.
Japanese is a Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) language: topic/subject → object → verb. English is Subject-Verb-Object (SVO). So verbs naturally come at the end in Japanese.
What does the ます ending on 運転します tell me?
ます makes the verb polite (敬体, keitai). It’s suitable for most everyday conversations with people you’re not super close to. The plain form is 運転する, which you’d use among close friends or in casual writing.
Why isn’t there an explicit pronoun like “he” before the verb?
Japanese often omits subjects (pronouns) when context makes them clear. Here, 兄 is the topic, so you don’t need to say “he”—it’s understood that 兄 is doing the driving.
What’s the difference between 兄 (ani) and お兄さん (oniisan)?

• 兄 is the neutral word for “older brother” when you refer to your own sibling in writing or formal speech.
• お兄さん is more polite/casual and can be used when talking directly to someone else’s brother or when calling out to a young man. It adds the honorific お- and -さん.

How would I change the sentence to past tense (“my brother drove a car”)?

Just switch します to its past polite form しました:
兄は車を運転しました。

Does this sentence imply he drives every day, or just once?
The present tense in Japanese (～ます form) can indicate habitual actions or general truths. So 兄は車を運転します generally means “My brother drives (a car)” in the sense that he can or usually does drive. If you want to stress a one-time action, you’d use the past tense (～しました) or add time expressions like 昨日 (yesterday).

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denkitukeruwatasi ha denki wo tukemasu.nerukesuwatasi ha neru mae ni denki wo kesimasu.akaruinode
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“How do verb conjugations work in Japanese?”
Japanese verbs conjugate based on tense, politeness, and mood. For example, the polite present form adds ‑ます to the verb stem, while the past tense uses ‑ました. Unlike English, Japanese verbs don't change based on the subject — the same form works for "I", "you", and "they".

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