ima watashi wa nihongo o benkyouchuu desu.

Right now I am in the middle of studying Japanese.

Breakdown of ima watashi wa nihongo o benkyouchuu desu.

• は: topic particle
• です: to be
• 私わたし: I
• を: direct object particle

Questions & Answers about ima watashi wa nihongo o benkyouchuu desu.

Why is は used after 私? Shouldn’t it be が for the subject?

In this sentence, は marks 私 as the topic, not strictly the grammatical subject.

• 私は = “As for me / speaking about me…”
• が usually marks the grammatical subject, especially when you’re introducing new information or emphasizing who/what does something.

In 今 私は 日本語を 勉強中です, the speaker is just setting up “me” as the topic: As for me, (I am) in the middle of studying Japanese now.

You could say 私が日本語を勉強中です, but that puts stronger emphasis on I (as opposed to someone else), like “I (as opposed to others) am the one who is studying Japanese.” For a neutral “I’m studying Japanese now,” 私は is more natural.

Why is は pronounced “wa” here instead of “ha”?

The character は usually represents the sound “ha” inside words (はな = hana, nose/flower), but when it is used as the topic particle, it is pronounced “wa.”

So:

• As a normal syllable in a word: は = ha
• As the topic particle: は = wa

This is just an irregularity of Japanese spelling vs. pronunciation that learners have to memorize. Same idea for:

• へ (he) pronounced “e” when it’s the direction particle
• を (wo) pronounced “o” as the object particle