watashitachi no musuko wa supootsu ga daisuki de, houkago ni tomodachi to sakkaa o shimasu.

Our son loves sports and plays soccer with his friends after school.

Breakdown of watashitachi no musuko wa supootsu ga daisuki de, houkago ni tomodachi to sakkaa o shimasu.

• は: topic particle
• 友とも達だち: friend
• と: companion particle
• が: subject particle

Questions & Answers about watashitachi no musuko wa supootsu ga daisuki de, houkago ni tomodachi to sakkaa o shimasu.

Why do we say 私たちの息子 for our son? What does の do here?

の is the possessive particle. It works a lot like English ’s or of.

• 私たち = we / us
• 私たちの = our
• 息子 = son

So 私たちの息子 literally means “the son of us” → our son.

Structure: A の B = B belonging to A

• 日本の学校 = a school of Japan → a Japanese school
• 田中さんの本 = Tanaka’s book

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Why is there a は after 息子: 私たちの息子は? What is it doing?

は is the topic marker. It tells you what the sentence is “about.”

• 私たちの息子は = As for our son, … / Our son …

After that, the rest of the sentence gives information about him:

• スポーツが大好きで、放課後に友達とサッカーをします。
  = (he) really loves sports, and (he) plays soccer with his friends after school.

So は is not “subject” in a strict grammatical sense; it’s “topic.” The grammatical subject inside the clause with 好き is actually スポーツ (marked by が).

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Why is it スポーツが大好き, not スポーツを大好き?