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Breakdown of zatuon wo herasu to, kaiwa ga kikiyasui desu.
ですdesu
to be
をwo
direct object particle
がga
subject particle
とto
conditional particle
〜やすい〜yasui
to be easy to
聞くkiku
to hear
雑音zatuon
noise
会話kaiwa
conversation
減らすherasu
to reduce
Questions & Answers about zatuon wo herasu to, kaiwa ga kikiyasui desu.
Why is 雑音 followed by を and not が?
Because 雑音を減らす uses 減らす (to reduce) as a transitive verb. を marks 雑音 as the direct object you’re reducing.
What role does と play after 減らす in this sentence?
It’s the conditional ～と, meaning “when” or “whenever.” XとY indicates that Y naturally or inevitably follows when X happens.
Why is 会話 marked with が instead of を when we’re talking about hearing it?
Here we have the adjective 聞きやすい (“easy to hear”), so 会話 functions as the subject of that adjective and takes が. If you used the verb 聞く (“to listen”), then you’d mark the object with を.
How is 聞きやすい formed and what does it mean?
It’s formed by attaching the auxiliary adjective やすい (“easy to do”) to the verb stem 聞き from 聞く. Thus 聞きやすい means “easy to hear” or “easy to listen to.”
What is the function of です at the end? Can it be omitted?
です is the polite copula, making the statement formal. You can omit it in casual speech:
雑音を減らすと、会話が聞きやすい.
Could I express this idea using ば instead of と?
Yes. With the ば-conditional you get:
雑音を減らせば、会話が聞きやすいです,
which also means “if you reduce noise, conversation becomes easy to hear.”
Is there another way to talk about “less noise” instead of 雑音を減らす?
You could describe the state with 少ない:
雑音が少ないと、会話が聞きやすいです,
meaning “when there’s little noise, conversation is easy to hear.”
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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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