haha wa watashi ga jiko ni awanai ka shinpaishite imasu.

My mother is worried that I might get into an accident.

Breakdown of haha wa watashi ga jiko ni awanai ka shinpaishite imasu.

• は: topic particle
• 私わたし: I
• か: question particle
• が: subject particle
• 母はは: mother
• に: indirect object particle
• 事故じこ: accident
• 事故じこ に あう: to get into an accident
• ～ない: negative form
• 心配しんぱいする: to worry
• ～て: connective form
• ～て いる: progressive form

Questions & Answers about haha wa watashi ga jiko ni awanai ka shinpaishite imasu.

What role does は play in 母は?

は is the topic marker. It sets 母 (“mother”) as the topic of the sentence—what the rest of the sentence is talking about. It does not mark the grammatical subject here (that’s done inside the embedded clause).

Why is が used after 私 instead of を?

Inside the embedded clause 私が事故にあわないか, 私 is the subject of the verb あわない (“avoid/get into an accident”). が is the subject marker, whereas を would mark a direct object, which isn’t what 私 is in this clause.

Why does 事故 take the particle に in 事故にあう?

The verb あう here means “to encounter; be involved in” (an accident). In Japanese, the thing you “encounter” is marked with に. So 事故にあう literally “to encounter an accident.”

What is the function of the か in 事故にあわないか?

That か is the question particle used in an embedded question (間接疑問文). It turns the preceding clause into “whether/if I will avoid an accident.” It does not make the whole sentence a question—notice there’s no question mark at the end.

Why is the verb あう in the negative form あわない instead of the positive あう?

This follows the pattern 「〜ないか心配する」, which means “to be worried that 〜 might happen.” You take the verb in its negative form, add か, then 心配する.

• 事故にあわないか心配している literally “worry whether I will not avoid an accident,” i.e. “worry that I might get into an accident.”

Why is 心配している used instead of 心配する?

In Japanese, many mental or emotional verbs (like 心配する, “to worry”) use the 〜ている form to describe an ongoing state rather than a one-off action.

• 心配している = “is in the state of worrying,” i.e. “is worried.”

Could I make the embedded question more explicit with どうか?

Yes. You can say 母は私が事故にあわないかどうか心配している. Adding どうか is optional and sometimes makes the “whether or not” nuance clearer.

Which kanji should I use for あう in the context of “having an accident”?

Use 遭う.

• 遭う = “to encounter (an accident, a disaster)”
• 会う = “to meet (a person)”

Why doesn’t the sentence end with a question mark if there’s a か?

Because the か is inside an embedded question (間接疑問). The main clause is declarative (心配しています), so the overall sentence is a statement: “Mother is worried that I might get into an accident.”