musume ha piano wo kirei ni hikimasu.

は marks 娘 as the topic of the sentence: as for the daughter, she plays the piano beautifully.

In this sentence, 娘は sets up what the sentence is about. That is very common in Japanese.

If you used が instead, it would sound more like you are specifically identifying the daughter as the one who plays beautifully, often with a slightly stronger focus or contrast:

• 娘はピアノをきれいに弾きます。 = As for the daughter, she plays the piano beautifully.
• 娘がピアノをきれいに弾きます。 = The daughter is the one who plays the piano beautifully.

Both can be grammatical, but は is the more neutral topic-marking choice here.

を marks the direct object of the verb.

Here, the verb is 弾きます (to play a musical instrument), and ピアノを弾きます means play the piano.

So:

• ピアノ = piano
• を = marks it as the thing being played
• 弾きます = plays

Even though English says play the piano, Japanese uses the object marker because the piano is treated as the object of the action.

Because きれい is being used adverbially here: it describes how the piano is played.

• きれい is a na-adjective
• To turn a na-adjective into an adverb, you usually change 〜だ / 〜な to 〜に

So:

• きれいな音 = a beautiful/clean sound
• きれいに弾く = to play beautifully / cleanly

In this sentence, きれいに means something like:

• beautifully
• nicely
• cleanly

depending on context.

Yes. This is a very common learner question.

Even though きれい ends in い, it is not an i-adjective. It is a na-adjective.

That is why:

• attributive form: きれいな
  • noun
• adverb form: きれいに
  • verb

Compare:

• きれいなピアノ = a beautiful/clean piano
• きれいに弾きます = plays beautifully

So you should not treat きれい like a true i-adjective such as はやい or たかい.

It means the piano is played in a beautiful, neat, or clean way.

With music, きれいに弾く often suggests:

• playing beautifully
• playing smoothly
• playing clearly
• playing with a nice tone

So it is not necessarily about physical cleanliness. It is about the manner of performance.

Here it is read ひきます.

So the sentence is:

娘はピアノをきれいにひきます。

The verb 弾く can have different readings depending on meaning, but when it means to play a stringed instrument or piano, it is usually read ひく.

Examples:

• ピアノを弾く = to play the piano
• ギターを弾く = to play the guitar

Its polite form is 弾きます = ひきます.

That is the normal pattern in Japanese.

Japanese usually puts words that describe the action before the verb:

• きれいに弾きます = plays beautifully

English often puts the verb first and then the adverb:

• plays beautifully

Japanese is a verb-final language, so the main verb typically comes at the end of the sentence, and modifiers come before it.

By itself, 娘 does not always tell you whose daughter it is. It can mean:

• daughter
• one’s daughter
• a young woman / girl, in some contexts

In a standalone sentence like this, the exact meaning depends on context. Very often, if someone says 娘は..., it may mean my daughter..., but Japanese often leaves ownership unstated when it is already understood.

So the sentence could be interpreted as:

• My daughter plays the piano beautifully
• The daughter plays the piano beautifully

Context decides.

弾きます is the polite non-past form of 弾く.

The ます-form is commonly used in:

• neutral polite conversation
• textbook example sentences
• speaking to people you are not very close to
• formal situations

The plain form would be:

• 娘はピアノをきれいに弾く。

The non-past form in Japanese can mean:

• present habitual: she plays
• future: she will play

In this sentence, it most naturally means a habitual action or general ability/style:

• she plays the piano beautifully

Yes, Japanese word order is more flexible than English, as long as the particles stay attached to the right words.

For example, these are possible:

• 娘はピアノをきれいに弾きます。
• 娘はきれいにピアノを弾きます。

Both are understandable.

However, the most natural order is usually the one that keeps related parts close together and feels smooth. The original sentence is very natural.

What usually cannot change is that the main verb 弾きます normally stays at the end.

Yes, but the nuance changes.

• きれいに弾きます = plays beautifully / cleanly
• 上手に弾きます = plays skillfully / well

So:

• きれいに focuses more on the beauty or cleanness of the performance
• 上手に focuses more on skill

They are similar, but not identical.

Yes, possibly. Japanese often leaves out information that is obvious from context.

For example, English may require something like:

• My daughter plays the piano beautifully
• Her daughter plays the piano beautifully

Japanese can simply say:

• 娘はピアノをきれいに弾きます。

because the listener may already know whose daughter is being discussed.

This kind of omission is extremely common in Japanese and is one reason literal word-for-word translation can feel incomplete.