Breakdown of sorosoro hirugohan o taberu jikan desu.
ですdesu
to be
をo
direct object particle
食べるtaberu
to eat
時間jikan
time
Questions & Answers about sorosoro hirugohan o taberu jikan desu.
What does そろそろ add to the sentence?
そろそろ means something like soon, before long, or it’s about that time. In this sentence, it gives the feeling that lunch time is approaching or has basically arrived.
It is not just a neutral time word; it often carries a natural sense like:
So そろそろ 昼ご飯を食べる時間です feels very natural for saying It’s about time to eat lunch.
Why is there no topic marker like は in this sentence?
Japanese often omits things that are understood from context. A fuller version could be:
- そろそろ昼ご飯を食べる時間です
- or もうそろそろ昼ご飯を食べる時間です
You could also imagine something like:
- 今は、そろそろ昼ご飯を食べる時間です
But in natural speech, は is often unnecessary if the sentence already makes sense. Japanese frequently leaves out the topic when it is obvious.
So this sentence is perfectly natural without は.
Why is 昼ご飯 marked with を, even though the main noun seems to be 時間?
