Learn Hardcore Japanese: musume ha kawaii bousi wo kabutte imasu.

娘は… = As for (the) daughter… / My daughter…
が usually introduces something new or emphasizes who/what is doing the action.
は marks what you’re talking about, the “frame” of the sentence.

Here, the speaker is simply talking about “the daughter” (very likely my daughter) and saying what she is doing/wearing, so は is natural.

If you said:

娘がかわいい帽子をかぶっています。

you’d be putting more emphasis on it is the daughter (not someone else) who is wearing a cute hat—useful when contrasting or answering a who? question.

Does 娘 automatically mean my daughter? How would I clearly say my daughter is wearing a cute hat?

娘 by itself just means daughter. But in Japanese, family members are often understood as “my …” from context, so 娘は… usually implies my daughter if you’re talking about your own family.

To make my explicit, you can say:

私の娘はかわいい帽子をかぶっています。
Watashi no musume wa kawaii bōshi o kabutte imasu.
= My daughter is wearing a cute hat.

In casual speech, people often drop 私の and just say 娘は…, relying on context.

What exactly is かぶって? What is its dictionary form and how is it made?

かぶって is the て-form of the verb かぶる.

Dictionary form: かぶる (to put on / wear something on the head)
Stem: かぶり
て-form rule: for う-verbs ending in る (where it’s a true う-verb, not an る-verb), る → って
So かぶる → かぶって

We use the て-form to:

Connect to another verb (かぶっている)
Connect actions (行って、買って、かぶって…)
Make requests (e.g., かぶってください “please put it on your head”)

Why is it かぶっています instead of just かぶります?

With clothing, Japanese usually uses ～ている to describe the state of wearing something:

かぶっています = “is wearing (on the head)” / “has on (the head)”
かぶります by itself is usually interpreted as “puts on (will put on) a hat” (a one-time action).

Compare:

娘はかわいい帽子をかぶります。
→ Typically “My daughter will put on / puts on a cute hat” (action).
娘はかわいい帽子をかぶっています。
→ “My daughter is wearing a cute hat” (current state).

So かぶっています describes the ongoing state resulting from the action.

What is the role of を here? The hat isn’t really being “acted on” like an object in English.

In Japanese, the を particle marks the direct object even when the English equivalent doesn’t feel like a typical “object”.

For clothing verbs like:

帽子をかぶる – to put on / wear a hat (on the head)
服を着る – to put on / wear clothes (on the upper body)
靴をはく – to put on / wear shoes

the clothing item takes を.

So:

かわいい帽子 = cute hat
かわいい帽子をかぶっています = (is) wearing a cute hat

Even though in English we might say “wear a hat” without feeling the hat as a “direct object”, in Japanese it naturally takes を with these verbs.

Why do we use います instead of あります at the end?

います and あります are both existence verbs, but they divide by animate vs. inanimate:

います – used for living / animate things (people, animals)
あります – used for inanimate things (objects, plants, abstract things, etc.)

Here, 娘 (daughter) is a person, so we use います.

Grammatically, in かぶっています, you have:

かぶって (wearing – in て-form)
いる (to exist / to be in a state)
→ かぶっている = “to be in the state of wearing”

Then it’s put in polite form:

かぶっている → かぶっています (です-style politeness)

We never use あります with a person as the subject in this pattern.

What’s the difference between かぶる, 着る, はく, and する for clothing? When do I use かぶる?

Japanese uses different verbs depending on where you wear the item:

かぶる – for things you wear on your head
e.g. 帽子 (hat), ヘルメット (helmet), ウィッグ (wig)
→ 帽子をかぶる – to put on / wear a hat
着る（きる） – for things you wear on your torso / upper body
e.g. シャツ (shirt), コート (coat), ドレス (dress)
→ コートを着る – to put on / wear a coat
はく – for things on your lower body / feet
e.g. ズボン (pants), スカート (skirt), 靴 (shoes), 靴下 (socks)
→ 靴をはく – to put on / wear shoes
する – for accessories etc.
e.g. ネクタイをする (wear a tie), 指輪をする (wear a ring)

In this sentence, because 帽子 is worn on the head, かぶる is the correct verb.

Can かぶっています also mean she usually wears a cute hat (habit/habitual), or is it only right now?

Context decides, but:

かぶっています primarily describes a current state:
“(She) is wearing / has on (now).”
It can sometimes be used for a characteristic / usual state, especially with descriptions of appearance. For example:
いつも帽子をかぶっています。 – “She always wears a hat.”

If you want to clearly express a habitual action, you might say:

娘はよくかわいい帽子をかぶります。 – My daughter often wears cute hats.
娘はいつもかわいい帽子をかぶっています。 – My daughter is always (found) wearing a cute hat.

In isolation, without adverbs like いつも, かぶっています is most naturally understood as “is wearing (now).”

Why is かわいい placed before 帽子? Can the order be reversed?

In Japanese, adjectives come directly before the nouns they modify, just like in English:

かわいい帽子 = a cute hat

The order 帽子かわいい is not a normal noun phrase. You might hear:

帽子、かわいいね。 – “Your hat is cute, isn’t it?”

But there the comma (or pause) breaks it into:

帽子 (topic/subject)
かわいい (predicate adjective)

So inside the noun phrase, the order adjective + noun is required:

✅ かわいい帽子
❌ 帽子かわいい (as a single noun phrase)

Why don’t we add だ or です after かわいい here?

かわいい before a noun is a modifying adjective, not a predicate.

かわいい帽子 – “a cute hat” (adjective directly modifying the noun)
帽子はかわいいです。 – “The hat is cute.” (predicate sentence: noun + は + adjective + です)

We only add だ / です when the adjective is the main predicate of the sentence, like “X is cute.” When it modifies a noun directly, nothing is needed:

かわいい + 帽子 → かわいい帽子 (correct)
かわいいだ帽子 (incorrect)

Is there any difference between かぶっている and かぶっています?

The meaning is the same; the difference is politeness and contraction:

かぶっている – plain form; also the full, non-contracted version in casual speech.
かぶってる – common casual contraction of かぶっている in spoken Japanese.
かぶっています – polite -ます form.

So:

娘はかわいい帽子をかぶっている。 – plain, neutral.
娘はかわいい帽子をかぶってる。 – casual spoken.
娘はかわいい帽子をかぶっています。 – polite (as in your sentence).

All three describe the same state; you choose based on politeness and context.

Is 帽子 always “hat”? Does it include things like caps and helmets?

Yes, 帽子（ぼうし） is a fairly broad word for things worn on the head:

hats
caps
beanies
helmets (though ヘルメット is also very common)
some headgear in general

In many contexts, 帽子 is translated simply as hat, but it can cover more. If you want to be specific:

キャップ – cap (baseball-style)
ベレー帽 – beret
ニット帽 – knit cap / beanie
ヘルメット – helmet

In your sentence, かわいい帽子 can be any cute headwear, often understood as a cute hat or cap.

Why isn’t there any です at the end? Isn’t Japanese supposed to end politely with です or ます?

The sentence already ends politely with ます inside かぶっています.

Structure:

かぶる – dictionary form
かぶっている – progressive/state form
かぶっています – polite -ます form of かぶっている

So:

娘はかわいい帽子をかぶっています。
is fully polite.

You don’t add です on top of ます here. It would be wrong to say:

❌ かぶっていますです。

You typically choose either a です-type predicate (like かわいいです) or a -ます verb ending, not both.

Could we say 娘がかわいい帽子をかぶっています instead? What changes?

Yes, grammatically you can, but the nuance changes:

娘はかわいい帽子をかぶっています。
– Topic: “As for my daughter, she is wearing a cute hat.”
Neutral statement about your daughter.
娘がかわいい帽子をかぶっています。
– Emphasis on “it is the daughter who is wearing a cute hat.”
Used when:
- answering Who is wearing a cute hat?
  → 娘がかわいい帽子をかぶっています。
- or contrasting with someone else (not the son, but the daughter).

For a simple description, は is more natural; が adds a focus on 娘 as the one doing it.

If I want to be casual, how would this sentence change?

In casual speech, you usually:

Drop ます politeness.
Sometimes drop は if the subject is clear.

Common casual versions:

娘はかわいい帽子をかぶっている。
娘、かわいい帽子をかぶってる。 (with the spoken contraction かぶってる)

Both are natural in everyday conversation with friends or family. The meaning stays the same; only the politeness level changes.