Breakdown of kyou wa watashi no tanjoubi desu kara, keeki o tabemasu.
はwa
topic particle
ですdesu
to be
私watashi
I
をo
direct object particle
食べるtaberu
to eat
今日kyou
today
のno
possessive case particle
からkara
reason particle
ケーキkeeki
cake
誕生日tanjoubi
birthday
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have hundreds of Japanese lessons and thousands of exercises.
Questions & Answers about kyou wa watashi no tanjoubi desu kara, keeki o tabemasu.
What does the particle は after 今日 do?
は marks 今日 as the topic of the sentence, signaling that what follows is a comment about today (“as for today…”).
What’s the function of の in 私の誕生日?
の is the possessive/genitive particle linking 私 to 誕生日, producing 私の誕生日 meaning my birthday.
Why is there です after 誕生日?
Because 誕生日 is a noun, and in polite Japanese you use the copula です to say “is.” So 今日は私の誕生日です means “Today is my birthday.”
How does から work in this sentence?
から attaches to the preceding clause as ～ですから (“because …”), giving the reason for the main action that follows.
Why is it ですから rather than だから?
In polite speech we use ですから, the polite counterpart to casual だから. If you switch to casual you could say 誕生日だから、ケーキを食べる.
Why is ケーキ written in katakana?
ケーキ is a foreign loanword (from English “cake”), and Japanese conventionally writes loanwords in katakana.
What role does を play in ケーキを食べます?
を marks ケーキ as the direct object of the verb 食べます (“eat the cake”).
Why is 私 explicitly stated? I thought Japanese often drops the subject.
Japanese does drop the subject when it’s clear. Here 私 is included for clarity or emphasis, but you could perfectly say 今日は誕生日ですから、ケーキを食べます.
What form is 食べます, and what nuance does it carry?
食べます is the polite non-past form of the verb 食べる (“to eat”). In context it means “I will eat” or “I eat” in a polite register.