watashi wa yoru ni kawa no chikaku de sanpo o suruno ga suki desu.

I like taking walks near the river at night.

Breakdown of watashi wa yoru ni kawa no chikaku de sanpo o suruno ga suki desu.

• は: topic particle
• です: to be
• 私わたし: I
• が: subject particle

Questions & Answers about watashi wa yoru ni kawa no chikaku de sanpo o suruno ga suki desu.

What does the particle は do in 私は?

In 私は夜に川の近くで散歩をするのが好きです, は after 私 marks the topic, not the grammatical subject in a strict sense.

• 私 = I / me
• は = topic marker: “As for me,” “Speaking about me,”

So 私は roughly feels like “As for me, …”.
The rest of the sentence is information about that topic.

Note: In English we often think in terms of “subject,” but in Japanese the topic (marked by は) can be different from the subject (often marked by が). Here, 私 is the topic, and 散歩をするの (taking a walk) is the thing that is “liked” and is marked by が.

Why is it 夜に and not just 夜?

夜に (よるに) uses the particle に to mark time:

• 夜 = night
• 夜に = at night / in the evening

In many casual sentences, Japanese often drops に after time expressions:

• 夜、川の近くで散歩をするのが好きです。
  (Natural and common in speech)

Both 夜に and 夜 are grammatically fine here.
に makes it a bit more explicitly “at night,” while dropping it can sound slightly more natural and conversational, depending on style and rhythm.

What is the role of の in 川の近く?