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Learn Hardcore Japanese: kyou ha kaze ga yowai desu. - The wind is weak today.

Hardcore Japanese
/Lesson 37
/kyou wa kaze ga yowai desu.

kyou wa kaze ga yowai desu.

今日きょう　は　風かぜ　が　弱よわい　です。kyou wa kaze ga yowai desu.

The wind is weak today.

Breakdown of kyou wa kaze ga yowai desu.

今きょ日うkyou

subject particle

Questions & Answers about kyou wa kaze ga yowai desu.

How is this sentence put together grammatically?

A natural breakdown is:

今日 = today
は = topic marker
風 = wind
が = subject marker
弱い = weak
です = polite ending

So the structure is roughly:

As for today, the wind is weak.

Japanese often puts the topic first, then says something about it.

Why does 今日 use は?

は marks the topic of the sentence: what the sentence is about.

So 今日は means something like:

as for today
today, ...

It sets the time frame for the statement. In English, we often just put today at the beginning without any marker, but Japanese usually uses a particle to show the role of the word.

Why does 風 use が instead of は?

In this sentence, 風が弱いです means the wind is weak.

Here, が marks 風 as the thing that has the property weak. With adjectives like 弱い, が is very common for the thing being described.

So:

Nihon-shiki romanizationwatasi ha tyuugoku kara kimasita

Hepburn romanizationwatashi wa chuugoku kara kimashita

弱よわいyowai

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今日は = as for today
風が = the wind
弱いです = is weak

If you said 風は, the nuance would shift a little more toward as for the wind... or contrast, depending on context. But 風が弱いです is a very normal way to say it.

Why is there no verb like is in the middle?

Because 弱い is an i-adjective, and in Japanese, i-adjectives can act as predicates by themselves.

So:

風が弱い = the wind is weak

There is no separate word exactly like English is needed there.

This is a very important difference from English. Japanese adjectives can often finish the sentence on their own.

What kind of word is 弱い?

弱い is an i-adjective.

You can tell because it ends in い in its dictionary form.

That matters because i-adjectives behave differently from na-adjectives. For example:

弱い → i-adjective
静か → na-adjective

With an i-adjective, you do not put な before a noun, and you do not need だ before です in a sentence like this.

So:

風が弱いです = correct
風が弱いだです = incorrect

Why is です added after 弱い?

です makes the sentence polite.

Compare:

今日は風が弱い。 = plain
今日は風が弱いです。 = polite

With an i-adjective, you can add です at the end to make the sentence sound more polite, even though 弱い is already the predicate.

So です here is not exactly the same as English is. It is mainly a politeness marker in this kind of sentence.

Is weak wind a natural thing to say in Japanese?

Yes. Japanese commonly describes wind as:

風が強い = the wind is strong
風が弱い = the wind is weak

This is very natural Japanese.

In English, learners may expect something like light wind or the wind isn’t strong, but Japanese often uses the direct pair strong / weak for wind.

How do you read the words in this sentence?

The standard readings are:

今日 → きょう
は → pronounced わ here, because it is the topic particle
風 → かぜ
が → が
弱い → よわい
です → です

So the whole sentence is read:

きょうはかぜがよわいです。

Can I say 今日の風は弱いです instead?

Yes, you can.

今日は風が弱いです。
今日の風は弱いです。

Both are grammatical, but the nuance is a little different.

今日は風が弱いです

means As for today, the wind is weak
focuses first on today

今日の風は弱いです

means Today’s wind is weak
treats today’s wind as a noun phrase

The original sentence is usually the more natural everyday way to describe today’s weather.

Could the sentence be 今日は風は弱いです?

It is possible in some contexts, but it has a different nuance.

風は often suggests contrast, like:

As for the wind, it’s weak
(maybe implying something else is not weak)

For a simple neutral statement about the weather, 風が弱いです is more natural.

So if you are just saying The wind is weak today, the original sentence is the better choice.

Can 今日 be omitted?

Yes, if the time is already understood from context.

For example:

風が弱いです。 = The wind is weak.

Japanese often leaves out information that is obvious from the situation. But if you want to clearly say today, keeping 今日は is natural.

Why are there spaces between the words here?

The spaces are usually only for learners.

Normal Japanese writing would be:

今日は風が弱いです。

Japanese normally does not put spaces between words the way English does. Learning materials often add spaces so you can see the parts more easily.

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