Word
今日 の 気温 は 高い です が、 湿度 は 低い です。kyou no kion wa takai desu ga, shitsudo wa hikui desu.
Meaning
Today's temperature is high, but the humidity is low.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of kyou no kion wa takai desu ga, shitsudo wa hikui desu.
はwa
topic particle
ですdesu
to be
今日kyou
today
のno
possessive case particle
Questions & Answers about kyou no kion wa takai desu ga, shitsudo wa hikui desu.
Why is の (no) used after 今日 (kyō) in 今日の気温? Why not just 今日気温?
の is a possessive/connecting particle, a bit like “of” or the ’s in English.
- 今日の気温 literally: “today’s temperature” or “the temperature of today.”
- Without の, 今日気温 is ungrammatical in standard Japanese.
In Japanese, you usually need の to connect a noun that modifies another noun:
- 日本の天気 – Japan’s weather / the weather in Japan
- 今日の気温 – today’s temperature / the temperature today
What does は (wa) do in 気温は and 湿度は?
は is the topic marker. It marks what you are talking about.
- 気温は高いです – “As for the temperature, it is high.”
- 湿度は低いです – “As for the humidity, it is low.”
Using は here also creates a contrast:
“As for the temperature, it’s high, but as for the humidity, it’s low.”
So in this sentence, both 気温は and 湿度は are contrastive topics.
I thought が (ga) was a subject marker. Why does が mean “but” here?
