keeki wa amai desu.

topic particle

Breakdown of keeki wa amai desu.

• です: to be
• ケーキ: cake
• 甘あまい: sweet

Questions & Answers about keeki wa amai desu.

What’s the function of は in ケーキは甘いです?

は is the topic marker. It tells us that ケーキ (cake) is what we’re talking about. After marking the topic with は, the rest of the sentence describes or comments on it (“is sweet”). Unlike が, which marks the grammatical subject or new information, は simply sets the theme of the sentence.

Why is ケーキ written in Katakana?

ケーキ is a loanword (from English cake), and Japanese writes borrowed words in Katakana. Native Japanese words use Hiragana or Kanji (for example, sweets in general might be お菓子).

What kind of word is 甘い?

甘い is an i-adjective. You can tell because it ends in い in its dictionary form. I-adjectives describe qualities and can directly act as predicates (as in ケーキは甘い) or modify nouns (e.g. 甘いケーキ, “sweet cake”).

Why is です added after 甘い?

です is the polite copula. Adding です after an i-adjective makes the sentence polite without changing the adjective’s form. So “甘い” becomes 甘いです in polite speech.