Word
冬 は 風邪 を ひく 人 が 多い です。fuyu wa kaze o hiku hito ga ooi desu.
Meaning
Many people catch colds in winter.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of fuyu wa kaze o hiku hito ga ooi desu.
はwa
topic particle
ですdesu
to be
をo
direct object particle
がga
subject particle
人hito
person
冬fuyu
winter
多いooi
many
風邪kaze
cold
ひくhiku
to catch a cold
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Questions & Answers about fuyu wa kaze o hiku hito ga ooi desu.
Why is は used after 冬 instead of が?
は is the topic marker in Japanese. By saying 冬 は, you’re setting “winter” as the theme of the sentence (“As for winter…”). If you used 冬 が, you’d be marking it as the grammatical subject, which changes the nuance (for example, 冬 が 寒い means “Winter is cold,” where 冬 is the subject).
Could we replace 冬は with 冬に? What would change?
Yes.
- 冬に 風邪をひく人が多いです means “Many people catch colds in winter,” with 冬に marking “in winter” as the time.
- 冬は 風邪をひく人が多いです sets “winter” as the topic, implying a contrast with other seasons (“As for winter, there are many people who catch colds”). Both convey a similar idea, but に focuses on when it happens, while は focuses on “winter” as the season being talked about.
What is the function of を in 風邪をひく?
を marks 風邪 (cold) as the direct object of the verb ひく (“to catch”). In Japanese, even though catching a cold in English feels intransitive, 風邪 is treated as something you “pull in” or “catch,” so it takes the object marker を.
Why is the verb ひく used to mean “catch” a cold?
In Japanese, ひく (usually written 引く when using kanji) literally means “to pull.” The expression 風邪をひく is an idiom: you’re metaphorically “pulling in” or “drawing” the cold. Other illnesses or conditions use similar constructions (e.g. 病気を治す “to cure an illness,” but 病気をひく is not used—idioms vary by disease).
Why is 人 followed by が before 多い?
When you describe the quantity or existence of something using adjectives like 多い (“many”) or 少ない (“few”), Japanese uses が to mark the thing you’re counting. So 人が多い literally means “people are many,” i.e. “there are many people.”
Why is there です at the end when 多い is an -い adjective?
In polite/formal speech, Japanese often adds です after adjectives to soften or formalize them. So instead of just saying 多い, you say 多いです. In casual speech you can drop です and say 人が多い.
Why does the verb come at the end of the sentence?
Japanese follows a Subject–Object–Verb (SOV) word order. That means the verb almost always appears at the very end of the clause. In this sentence, 風邪をひく (“catch a cold”) comes just before the rest of the predicate (人が多いです).