Learn Hardcore Japanese: otto ha sai kaisya no kaisyain de, zyousi to buka to mo naka ga ii desu. - My husband is an office worker at a small company and gets along well with both his boss and his subordinates.

夫 by itself, said by a woman about her spouse, is usually understood as “my husband” from context.
If you needed to contrast (e.g., “my husband, not my sister’s husband”), you could say 私の夫.

So in ordinary conversation, 夫は… is naturally understood as “As for my husband, …” without needing 私の.

What is the role of は after 夫? Why not 夫が?

は marks the topic of the sentence: what we’re talking about.

夫は = As for my husband, / Speaking of my husband,
The rest of the sentence gives information about that topic.

If you used 夫が, you’d be marking 夫 as the grammatical subject with some extra focus or contrast, something like:

夫が小さい会社の会社員で…
“It’s my husband who is an employee at a small company and…”

In a neutral introduction like this, は is more natural: we’re simply introducing what is true about my husband, not contrasting him against someone else.

What does 小さい会社の会社員 literally mean, and why is の used here?

Literally:

小さい会社 – a small company
の – “of” / indicating belonging or affiliation
会社員 – company employee / office worker

So 小さい会社の会社員 literally is “an employee of a small company.”

の here connects the company to the employee, showing an affiliation:

学校の先生 – a teacher of a school (a schoolteacher)
病院の医者 – a doctor at a hospital
小さい会社の会社員 – an employee of a small company

You could also say:

小さい会社で働いている – (he) works at a small company

…but 小さい会社の会社員 emphasizes his position/role (he is a company employee), whereas で働いている emphasizes the action of working there.

Why is it 会社員で and not 会社員です?

Here で is the conjunctive form (linking form) of です, used to connect this part to the next clause:

会社員です。上司と部下とも仲がいいです。
“He is an employee at a small company. He gets along well with his boss and subordinates.”

To make that into a single smoother sentence, Japanese often turns です into で:

小さい会社の会社員で、上司と部下とも仲がいいです。
“(He) is an employee of a small company, and he gets along well with both his boss and his subordinates.”

Pattern:

Noun + です → Noun + で、 when linking to another clause.
- 学生です。→ 学生で、
- 医者です。→ 医者で、

So 会社員で、… just means “(he) is a company employee and …”.

How do と and も work in 上司と部下とも? What exactly does that part mean?

Breakdown:

上司 – boss, superior
部下 – subordinate
と – “with” / “and” (here, “with”)
も – “also,” but in this pattern it gives the sense of “both”.

The idea is:

上司と（も）仲がいい – gets along well with (his) boss (too)
部下と（も）仲がいい – gets along well with (his) subordinates (too)

In this sentence, they are combined so that the whole phrase means:

He gets along well with both his boss and his subordinates.

More standardly this is written as:

上司とも部下とも仲がいいです。

where とも = と + も, repeated for each partner:

AともBとも仲がいい – gets along well with both A and B.

Is there a difference between 上司と部下とも仲がいい and 上司とも部下とも仲がいい?

Yes, there’s a nuance in clarity and naturalness.

上司とも部下とも仲がいい
- This is the clearest and most common pattern.
- Structure: [上司とも] [部下とも] 仲がいい
- Very clearly: “gets along well with both (his) boss and (his) subordinates.”
上司と部下とも仲がいい
- Can be interpreted as [上司と部下] とも仲がいい:
  “He gets along well with his boss and his subordinates (both).”
- It’s understandable, but less textbook-standard than repeating とも for each noun.

For learners, it’s safer and more natural to use:

上司とも部下とも仲がいいです。

What does 仲がいい literally mean? Why is it 仲がいい, not something like 仲はいい?

Literally:

仲 (なか) – relationship, terms (especially between people)
いい – good

So 仲がいい literally is “the relationship is good.”
Used as a fixed expression meaning “(they) are on good terms / close / get along well.”

Typical pattern:

Xさんと仲がいい – be on good terms with X / be close to X
- 田中さんと仲がいいです。– I get along well with Tanaka.
- 彼はみんなと仲がいいです。– He gets along with everyone.

About が vs は:

仲がいい is the standard pattern: が marks 仲 as the thing that is “good.”
仲はいい is also possible and can add a nuance like contrast or emphasis, e.g.:
- あの二人はケンカもするけど、仲はいい。
  “Those two fight sometimes, but their relationship is (still) good.”

In this sentence, 仲がいいです is the normal, neutral way to say it.

Could I say 上司や部下と仲がいいです instead? What’s the difference between や and と here?

Yes, you can, but the nuance changes.

AとBと(も) – tends to mean specifically A and B, and with とも, often “both A and B.”
- 上司とも部下とも仲がいい – gets along with both boss and subordinates.
AやB – lists items as examples, with a nuance of “A, B, and others like them.”
- 上司や部下と仲がいい – gets along with his boss, his subordinates, and others of that kind (bosses/subordinates in general, for example).

So:

If you want to stress both groups specifically, use と…とも / とも…とも.
If you want to say “things/people like A and B (among others)”, use や.

Can I say 小さい会社で働いていて、上司とも部下とも仲がいいです instead of 小さい会社の会社員で…? Is there any difference?

Yes, that’s a natural alternative, with a slightly different focus.

小さい会社の会社員で
- Focus: his status/position – “(He) is an employee of a small company and…”
- Very compact, noun-based description.
小さい会社で働いていて
- Focus: his action/situation – “(He) works at a small company and…”
- More concrete; describes what he is doing.

Both are fine; choose based on what you want to emphasize:

Job status/role → 会社員で
The act of working there → 会社で働いていて

Is there a plain/casual version of this sentence?

Yes. The polite です and the polite linking で can be made plain:

Polite:

夫は小さい会社の会社員で、上司とも部下とも仲がいいです。

Plain:

夫は小さい会社の会社員で、上司とも部下とも仲がいい。

Or, more fully plain (if you really want every part plain):

夫は小さい会社の会社員で、上司とも部下とも仲がいいんだ。

The last one adds a bit of explanatory nuance (んだ), like “you know / it’s that…”, common in casual speech.

Why is there a comma after で? How are the two parts of the sentence connected?

The comma 、「、」 simply marks a pause between two closely related clauses:

夫は小さい会社の会社員で、
“As for my husband, (he) is an employee at a small company, and…”
上司とも部下とも仲がいいです。
“…(he) gets along well with both his boss and his subordinates.”

Grammatically, で already connects the first clause to what follows.
The comma is mostly for readability and natural rhythm in writing; it doesn’t change the grammar.

Does 夫 always mean “my husband” when I say it, or can it mean someone else’s husband?

By default:

If you say 夫 about a husband in a neutral context, it is usually understood as your own husband.

To refer to someone else’s husband politely, you normally use:

ご主人（ごしゅじん） – (someone else’s) husband
- 田中さんのご主人 – Mr. Tanaka’s husband / Tanaka’s husband

So:

夫は小さい会社の会社員で…
→ From the speaker’s mouth, this is practically always “My husband is an employee at a small company and…”

Context can make 夫 refer to someone else (for example, quoting another speaker in narration), but in ordinary first-person conversation, it means “my husband.”