Breakdown of watasi no koe ha hikui desu.
はha
topic particle
ですdesu
to be
私watasi
I
のno
possessive case particle
声koe
voice
低いhikui
low
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Questions & Answers about watasi no koe ha hikui desu.
How do you read the sentence 私の声は低いです in kana and in romaji?
Kana: わたしのこえはひくいです
Romaji: Watashi no koe wa hikui desu
What does the particle の do in 私の声?
の is the possessive/attributive particle. It links 私 (I/me) with 声 (voice), so 私の声 literally means “my voice.”
What is the function of は in 声は?
は is the topic marker. It sets 声 (voice) as the topic of the sentence. You could paraphrase “As for my voice, …” It’s not the subject marker (that would be が), but it tells the listener “here’s what I’m talking about.”
What part of speech is 低い, and how does it work with です?
低い is an い-adjective (i-adjective), meaning “low” or “deep” in this context. When you use it politely as a predicate:
- You simply add です after the adjective: 低いです (“is low/deep”).
- In plain form you’d drop です and say just 低い.
- For past tense you attach かった before です: 低かったです (“was low/deep”).
Why is です added at the end, and can I omit it?
です is the polite copula.
- With です the sentence is polite/formal: 私の声は低いです.
- You can omit です in casual/plain speech: 私の声は低い.
- Omitting です makes it less formal; it’s fine among friends but may sound blunt in formal settings.
Could you say 私の声が低いです or 私は声が低いです instead? What’s the difference?
Yes, both are grammatically correct but nuance changes:
- 私の声が低いです uses が to mark 私の声 as the subject (new information): “My voice happens to be low.”
- 私は声が低いです uses は on 私, making “I” the topic and 声が低いです the comment: “As for me, (my) voice is low.”
- 私の声は低いです makes my voice the topic directly. The difference is subtle and often comes down to what you want to emphasize.
Why is the word order 私の声は低いです instead of something like 低いです私の声は?
Japanese typically follows [Topic] + [Comment] order.
- 私の声は (topic)
- 低いです (comment/predicate)
Reordering would break this natural flow. Although Japanese allows some flexibility, putting the predicate first is unnatural in a simple descriptive sentence.
In real Japanese writing, do you put spaces between words like in our example?
No, standard Japanese text normally has no spaces:
私の声は低いです。
Spaces here are only for beginning learners to see word boundaries.
Can I drop 私の and just say 声は低いです?
Yes—if the context makes it clear whose voice you’re talking about, you can say 声は低いです (“(My) voice is low”). Japanese often omits possessor/pronouns when they’re understood from context.