Learn Hardcore Japanese: kyou ha genki ga arimasen.

In 今日は元気がありません。, nothing in the sentence explicitly says “I”, but in a normal conversation, if you say this about yourself, it’s naturally understood as:

“(I) am not feeling well today.” or
“(I) don’t have any energy today.”

If you really wanted to include “I”, you could say:

私は今日は元気がありません。
But in everyday speech, that extra 私は is usually unnecessary and can even sound overly formal or stiff in many contexts.

What does the particle は do after 今日?

は (pronounced “wa” here) marks the topic of the sentence — what you’re talking about.

In 今日は元気がありません。:

今日は = “As for today,” / “Today,”
The rest of the sentence comments about “today”: 元気がありません (“there is no genki”).

So the structure is basically:

[As for today] [there is no genki].

You can think of は as setting the background frame of the sentence:
“Speaking about today, (I) don’t have any energy.”

Why is は written with the character は but pronounced “wa”?

This is just one of Japanese’s historical spelling quirks.

When は is used as a particle (topic marker), it is written as は but pronounced “wa”.
The same happens with:
- へ (written へ, pronounced “e” when it’s the direction particle)
- を (written を, pronounced “o” as the object marker)

So:

今日は is read きょうは (kyou wa), not きょうは (kyou ha).

What exactly does 元気 (げんき) mean here? Is it “energy”, “health”, or “fine”?

元気 is a tricky word to translate 1:1 because its meaning overlaps several English words.

It can roughly mean:

physical energy / vitality
healthiness
liveliness / spirit
by extension, “feeling well / okay / fine”

So in 元気がありません, you’re literally saying:

“There is no genki.”

But in natural English, we interpret that as:

“I don’t feel well today.”
“I have no energy today.”
“I’m not myself today.”

It doesn’t usually mean you’re seriously sick; it often suggests low energy, tired, down, or not your usual cheerful self.

Why is が used after 元気 instead of は?

In 今日は元気がありません。, the roles are:

今日は – topic (what we’re talking about)
元気が – the subject of the verb ありません

が marks what exists / doesn’t exist / happens in the sentence. Here:

The verb あります / ありません means “to exist / to be (there)” for non-living things.
元気がありません = “there is no genki.”

So:

は = topic marker: “As for today…”
が = subject marker: “…there is no genki.”

You could say 元気はありません, but that tends to give a contrastive feeling:

元気はありませんが、仕事には行きます。
“I’m not feeling well, but I’ll go to work.”

In the basic “I’m not feeling well today” statement, 元気がありません is the most natural default.

What verb is ありません? How is it formed?

ありません is the polite negative form of the verb ある.

ある = to exist / there is / to have (for inanimate things or abstract things like time, money, energy)
Polite present: あります
Polite negative: ありません

So:

元気があります。 = “(I) have energy / I feel fine.”
元気がありません。 = “(I) don’t have energy / I don’t feel fine.”

Grammatically, it’s:

元気 (subject) + が (subject marker) + ありません (does not exist).

Why is it 元気がありません and not 元気じゃありません?

Both are grammatically possible, but the nuance is slightly different:

元気がありません。
- Literally: “There is no genki.”
- Feels like you lack energy / vitality, maybe tired or down.
- Very common and natural for “I’m not feeling well / I have no energy.”
元気じゃありません。
- Uses じゃありません, the polite negative of the copula (like “is not”).
- Treats 元気 more like a state / label: “(I) am not genki.”
- Also works, but is less common for this set phrase and can feel a bit textbooky or slightly stiff depending on context.

In daily conversation, for this idea, 元気がありません or the slightly more casual 元気がないです or 元気がない are much more typical.

Is this sentence polite, casual, or formal?

今日は元気がありません。 is in polite form because of ありません.

Rough equivalents in different levels:

Polite:
今日は元気がありません。
Polite–casual mix:
今日は元気がないです。
(Uses casual ない
- polite です, very common in speech.)
Casual:
今日は元気がない。
Or even shorter: 今日、元気ない。

All mean basically the same thing; the choice depends on how polite you need to be.

Can I change the word order, like 元気がありません今日は?

No, not in normal speech.

Japanese word order is more flexible than English, but the topic usually comes early, and ending with the verb is very standard.

Natural order here is:

今日は元気がありません。

You can sometimes put 今日は after something else for special emphasis or in longer sentences, but:

元気がありません今日は。

sounds unnatural or at best like strange, dramatic emphasis. For basic sentences, keep:

[Topic] は [rest of the sentence]。

Why doesn’t 今日 use a particle like に, as in 今日に?

Time expressions like “today”, “tomorrow”, “yesterday”, etc., often appear without a particle when they simply answer “when?” or act as the topic.

Common patterns:

今日学校に行きます。 – “I’ll go to school today.”
明日試験があります。 – “There is a test tomorrow.”

In your sentence:

今日は is marked with は because you’re saying “As for today…” and then commenting on it.

You would not normally say 今日には元気がありません. 今日に is not natural for simple “today” time expressions; plain 今日 (optionally with は/も etc.) is usual.

How would I say the positive version: “I am feeling well today”?

Just switch the verb to its positive polite form:

今日は元気があります。
Literally: “Today, there is genki.”
Naturally: “I have energy today.” / “I feel good today.”

In casual speech:

今日は元気がある。
Or even just: 今日、元気ある。

Can I use this pattern with other nouns, like “I don’t have time today”?

Yes. The pattern 「今日は X がありません。」 is very productive:

今日は時間がありません。
“I don’t have time today.”
今日はお金がありません。
“I don’t have money today.”
今日は予定がありません。
“I don’t have any plans today.”

The structure is:

[今日は] [Noun] がありません。
= “As for today, (I) don’t have [Noun].”