Learn Hardcore Japanese: asita ha hayaku ie wo demasu. - I will leave the house early tomorrow.

By putting は after 明日, the speaker is setting tomorrow as the topic of the sentence. Then they say something about that topic: 早く家を出ます (will leave home early).

So the basic structure is:

明日は – topic: “about tomorrow”
早く家を出ます – comment: “(I) will leave home early”

You could say 明日、早く家を出ます without は, and it would still be correct. Using は adds a slight nuance of contrast or focus, like:

(As for) tomorrow, I’ll leave home early (as opposed to other days / compared with usual).

Where is the subject “I” in this sentence? Why isn’t it written?

Japanese often omits the subject when it’s clear from context.

In 明日は早く家を出ます, the subject is understood as “I” (or “we”) from the situation, but it’s not written:

(私は) 明日は早く家を出ます。
→ (I) will leave home early tomorrow.

If you really want to include it, you can say:

私は明日は早く家を出ます。
明日、私は早く家を出ます。

But in natural Japanese, if it’s obvious who is leaving, you just leave the subject out. Writing 私 every time would sound unnatural or overly formal/childlike in many everyday contexts.

Why is 出ます (present/polite) used for a future meaning like “will leave”?

Japanese doesn’t have a separate future tense. The non‑past form (like 出ます) covers both:

present / habitual: “leave(s)”, “usually leaves”
future: “will leave”

Which meaning is intended is decided by context or by time words like 明日 (tomorrow).

So:

明日は早く家を出ます。
→ With 明日, it naturally means “I will leave home early tomorrow.”

If you wanted a past meaning, you’d use 出ました (left). There is no special form like “will leave”; Japanese just uses the same non‑past form for both present and future.

What’s the difference between 早い and 早く here? Why do we use 早く?

早い is an adjective (“early”).
早く is its adverb form (“early” in the sense of “do something early / quickly”).

早い modifies nouns:
- 早い時間 – an early time
- 早い電車 – an early train
早く modifies verbs:
- 早く起きます – (I) get up early
- 早く帰ります – (I) go home early
- 早く家を出ます – (I) leave home early

Since 出ます is a verb, we use the adverb form 早く to say “leave early.”

Why is 家 marked with を? I thought を marks direct objects, not places.

This is a very common point of confusion. With some verbs of movement / exit, Japanese uses を to mark the place you move out of.

For 出る (to leave / go out of / exit):

家を出ます。 – (I) leave the house / home.
部屋を出ます。 – (I) leave the room.
会社を出ます。 – (I) leave the company / office.

Here, 家 is the place being exited, and with 出る, Japanese uses を for that.

You might expect 家から出ます using から (from), and that also exists (see next question), but 家を出ます is a very standard pattern with 出る.

What’s the difference between 家を出ます and 家から出ます?

Both are correct, but there’s a nuance:

家を出ます。
Focuses on “leaving home” itself. Very common, everyday phrasing. Smooth and slightly more idiomatic.
家から出ます。
More literally “go out from home.” The focus is a bit more on the starting point with から (“from”).

In many everyday contexts, they’re interchangeable:

明日は早く家を出ます。
明日は早く家から出ます。

Both can be understood as “I will leave home early tomorrow,” but 家を出ます is often the more natural-sounding choice.

Could the word order be 明日は家を早く出ます or 早く明日は家を出ます? Are these correct?

Japanese word order is flexible, but not all orders sound natural.

明日は家を早く出ます。
- Grammatically correct.
- Emphasis shifts slightly to “leaving the house early” as a unit.
- Still understandable and acceptable, though 明日は早く家を出ます is more natural.
早く明日は家を出ます。
- Feels unnatural and awkward.
- Beginning with 早く and then inserting 明日は breaks the usual rhythm.

The most natural patterns are:

明日は早く家を出ます。 (topic first, then adverb, then object, then verb)
明日、早く家を出ます。 (without topic は, just a time expression)
明日、家を早く出ます。 (also possible, but slightly less common than the first)

Can I drop some particles and say 明日早く家出ます in casual speech?

Yes, in casual spoken Japanese, particles are often dropped when the meaning stays clear:

明日早く家出ます。

This would be understood as:

(私は) 明日(は) 早く家(を) 出ます。

However:

In writing or formal speech, it’s better to keep the particles:
- 明日は早く家を出ます。

Dropping too many particles can make sentences harder to understand, especially for learners. As a learner, it’s good practice to learn and use the full, correct form, then get used to dropped particles gradually through listening.

How do you read 明日 here, and is there a difference between あした and あす?

In this sentence, 明日 is most naturally read as あした:

明日は早く家を出ます。
→ あしたははやくいえをでます。

あした vs あす:

あした
- Most common in everyday conversation.
- Neutral, standard, friendly.
あす
- Sounds a bit more formal or written, used in announcements, news, business, etc.
- Still normal, just a slightly different register.

You can say:

あすは早く家を出ます。

It sounds a little more formal or planned, like something you might say in a business context or careful speech.

Could I say 出かけます instead of 出ます? What’s the difference?

出る and 出かける are related but not identical.

出る (出ます): “to go out / leave / exit” a place
- Very literal: moving from inside to outside or from one place to elsewhere.
- 家を出ます。 – leave home.
出かける (出かけます): “to go out (for some activity)”
- Emphasizes going out to do something (shopping, meeting friends, work, etc.).
- Often implies leaving home/your usual place to go somewhere for a purpose.

In context:

明日は早く家を出ます。 – I will leave home early tomorrow. (focus: leaving)
明日は早く出かけます。 – I will go out early tomorrow. (focus: going out to do something early)

You might also say:

明日は早く家を出かけます。 → This is wrong.
You don’t say 家を出かける. Use either:
- 家を出ます (with the place)
- 出かけます (without marking the departure place with を)

Is this sentence polite or casual? How would I say it more casually?

出ます is the polite -ます form, so:

明日は早く家を出ます。 – Polite, appropriate for most situations (talking to colleagues, teachers, etc.)

To make it casual:

Change 出ます → 出る:
- 明日は早く家を出る。

You could also drop は in everyday speech:

明日早く家を出る。

Other forms:

Past polite: 明日は早く家を出ました。 – I left home early tomorrow (this combination of 明日 and past is usually incorrect in time logic, but grammatically that’s the form).
Past casual: 明日は早く家を出た。 (same note about time)

Does 早く here mean “early in the morning”? Is “morning” implied?

早く by itself just means “early”, relative to some usual or expected time. It does not explicitly say “in the morning”.

In many real-life situations, people assume “early” refers to early in the morning (because that’s when you typically “leave home early”), but grammatically, 朝 isn’t included.

If you want to be explicit:

明日は朝早く家を出ます。
→ I will leave home early in the morning tomorrow.
明日は7時に家を出ます。
→ I will leave home at 7 o’clock tomorrow.

So the original sentence simply means “leave early”, and whether that is morning or not depends on common sense and context.