Learn Hardcore Japanese: kinou ha yuumeina haiyuu to zyoyuu ga deru dorama wo mimasita. - Yesterday I watched a drama featuring a famous actor and actress.

Here 昨日 is just a simple time expression at the beginning; no explicit topic marking. The meaning is very similar; 昨日は adds a slight feeling of “talking about yesterday in particular” or contrasting it with other days.

As for 昨日に, in natural Japanese most plain time words like “yesterday, today, tomorrow, last year” are usually used without に:

× 昨日に行きました。 (sounds unnatural in most contexts)
○ 昨日行きました。 / 昨日は行きました。

So 昨日は is “yesterday + topic marker,” not “yesterday + time marker.”

Why is there no word for “I” in the sentence?

Japanese often omits the subject when it’s obvious from context. English requires “I watched,” “he watched,” etc., but Japanese can just say 見ました if it’s clear who is doing the watching.

In a typical conversation, the default assumption is that the speaker is the subject unless something else indicates otherwise. So:

昨日は … ドラマを見ました。
will naturally be understood as
→ Yesterday, *I watched a drama…*

You could say 私は explicitly (私は昨日…), but that’s usually only when you need to contrast with someone else, or emphasize “me” versus others. In everyday speech, pronouns are dropped a lot.

What does the particle が do after 俳優と女優? Why not は?

Here 俳優と女優が is the subject of the verb 出る (“to appear (in a show, etc.)”).

俳優と女優が出るドラマ
= a drama in which an actor and actress appear
(literally: “drama that actor and actress appear [in]”)

が is the standard subject marker, especially:

In relative clauses (like “〜が出るドラマ”), which is what we have here.
When introducing new information or describing what exists/happens.

Using は inside this relative clause (俳優と女優は出るドラマ) sounds unnatural and is generally avoided. は in Japanese acts more like a topic/contrast marker than a simple subject marker, and topics are usually not introduced inside relative clauses like this.

What does と mean in 俳優と女優? How is it different from や?

In 俳優と女優, the particle と works like a strict “and”:

俳優と女優 = actor and actress (both of them)

By contrast:

AやB means “A, B, and things like that” (an incomplete list).

So:

俳優と女優が出るドラマ
→ A drama where (that) actor and (that) actress appear.
俳優や女優が出るドラマ
→ A drama where people like actors, actresses, etc. appear (a bit more vague / “actors, actresses, and the like”).

In your sentence, と clearly connects two specific roles (actor + actress) together as the subject.

Why do we say 有名な俳優 and not just 有名俳優?

有名 is a na-adjective (形容動詞), so when it directly modifies a noun, it usually takes な:

有名な俳優 = a famous actor
有名な人 = a famous person

The pattern is:

[na-adjective] + な + noun

In more “headline-style” or advertising language, you do see 有名俳優 as a kind of compound noun (“famous-actor” as one word), but in standard grammar for learners, treat it as:

有名 + な + 俳優

That’s why the sentence uses 有名な俳優.

Does 有名な describe only the 俳優, or both the 俳優 and the 女優?

In normal interpretation, 有名な extends over the whole 俳優と女優 phrase, so it describes both:

有名な[俳優と女優]
= a famous actor and (a) famous actress

If the speaker wanted to say that only the actor is famous and the actress is not necessarily famous, they would more likely repeat or rearrange:

有名な俳優と女優 (default reading: both are famous)
有名な俳優と（普通の）女優 (adding a descriptor)
有名な俳優と、女優 (with a pause or different wording in speech)

Written as in your sentence, the most natural reading is that both the actor and actress are famous.

How does 有名な俳優と女優が出る connect to ドラマ grammatically?

有名な俳優と女優が出る is a relative clause that directly modifies ドラマ.

In Japanese, relative clauses always come before the noun they modify:

有名な俳優と女優が出るドラマ
literally: “the drama *that a famous actor and actress appear in”*

So the structure is:

[有名な俳優と女優が出る] ドラマを見ました。
I watched the drama [that a famous actor and actress appear in].

Everything before ドラマ forms one descriptive chunk explaining which drama is being talked about. There’s no word like “that” or “which” in Japanese; the clause itself serves that function.

Why is 出る in the present tense if the drama was watched yesterday?

Japanese relative clauses typically use the non-past form (dictionary form) to talk about general / characteristic facts, even when the main sentence is in the past.

有名な俳優と女優が出るドラマ
= a drama that a famous actor and actress appear in
(it’s a property of that drama — “it’s a drama in which they appear”)

Then the main verb 見ました is in the past:

ドラマを見ました = (I) watched the drama.

So overall:

The watching happened yesterday (past → 見ました).
The description “famous actor and actress appear in it” is treated as a timeless fact about that drama, so 出る is in non-past.

If you specifically wanted to highlight a past, one-off appearance, you could choose other forms, but for “a drama that they are in,” the simple 出る is standard.

What’s the difference between 出る and 出ている here? Could I say 有名な俳優と女優が出ているドラマ?

You can say 出ている, and it will still be understood, but there is a nuance difference:

出るドラマ
→ more neutral; describes a type / fact:
a drama in which they appear (as part of its content or cast).
出ているドラマ
→ uses the te-iru form, which often implies a current state or ongoing result. Here it can sound more like:
a drama they are (currently) in / appearing in
Sometimes this feels a bit more “vivid” or focused on the state.

In many everyday contexts, both are acceptable and the difference is small. For learners, が出るドラマ is the straightforward, safe pattern to express “a drama (that) they are in.”

What is the role of を after ドラマ?

を marks the direct object of a transitive verb.

ドラマを見ました。
= (I) watched a drama.

Here:

見ました is the polite past form of 見る (“to see / to watch”), a transitive verb.
The thing you watch is the direct object, so it takes を.

So in the full sentence:

有名な俳優と女優が出るドラマを見ました。
= (I) watched the drama that a famous actor and actress are in.

The を ties ドラマ to 見ました.

What is the difference between 見ました and 見た?

They express the same basic meaning (“watched” / “saw”) but differ in politeness level:

見ました → polite past (ます-form), used in most standard conversations, with people not very close, in public, etc.
見た → plain past (dictionary-style), used with friends, family, or in casual writing.

So:

昨日はドラマを見ました。
→ polite: “Yesterday I watched a drama.”
昨日はドラマを見た。
→ casual: “Yesterday I watched a drama.”

Grammar is the same; only the level of formality changes.

Could I drop the は after 昨日 and just say 昨日、有名な俳優と女優が出るドラマを見ました? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can say:

昨日、有名な俳優と女優が出るドラマを見ました。

This is very natural. The difference is subtle:

昨日は…
→ makes yesterday a topic, often with a slight sense of contrast or emphasis (“as for yesterday”).
昨日、…
→ simply states the time something happened, more neutral.

In many situations, they’re interchangeable in meaning. 昨日は might be used if, for example, you’re contrasting:

一昨日は映画を見ませんでしたが、昨日はドラマを見ました。
The day before yesterday I didn’t watch a movie, but yesterday I watched a drama.

Why can’t we say 有名な俳優と女優は出るドラマ instead of が出るドラマ?

Inside a relative clause (a clause that directly modifies a noun), Japanese almost always uses が (or sometimes を) to mark the subject, rather than は.

有名な俳優と女優が出るドラマ
(natural)
有名な俳優と女優は出るドラマ
(sounds wrong / very unnatural)

This is because は is a topic/contrast marker, not a plain subject marker. In relative clauses:

We’re not establishing topics; we’re just describing the noun (ドラマ).
The clause is like a self-contained mini-sentence attached to the noun.

So the normal pattern is:

[X が / X を / X に … V] + noun

For learners, a good rule of thumb is: use が, not は, for the subject inside relative clauses like “〜が出るドラマ.”