aoi kuruma wa medatsu to omoimasu.

I think blue cars stand out.

Breakdown of aoi kuruma wa medatsu to omoimasu.

• は: topic particle
• 車くるま: car
• と: quotative particle
• 思おもう: to think

Questions & Answers about aoi kuruma wa medatsu to omoimasu.

Why isn’t there a particle between 青い and 車?

In Japanese, い-adjectives like 青い directly modify the noun that follows without any extra particle. So 青い車 literally means “blue car,” with 青い functioning just like “blue” in English.

Why is は used after 車 instead of が or を?

は marks the topic of the sentence (“as for…”). Here, 青い車 is the topic: “As for blue cars…”

• が would mark 青い車 as the grammatical subject in a neutral/factual statement (e.g. 青い車が目立つ “Blue cars stand out”).
• を is never used because 目立つ is an intransitive verb (it doesn’t take a direct object).

What exactly does と do in 目立つと?

This と is the quotative particle. It turns the preceding plain clause (目立つ) into the content of a thought or speech. In other words, 目立つと means “that it stands out,” which you then attach to 思います to express “I think that it stands out.”

Why is 目立つ in its dictionary form instead of 目立ちます?

When you quote a clause with と, that quoted clause remains in the plain (dictionary) form, even if the main verb (思います) is polite. You never say 目立ちますと — you always quote in plain form.