watashi wa eki mae no kafe de tomodachi to hanashimasu.

I talk with a friend at the café in front of the station.

Breakdown of watashi wa eki mae no kafe de tomodachi to hanashimasu.

• は: topic particle
• 私わたし: I
• 友とも達だち: friend
• と: companion particle

Questions & Answers about watashi wa eki mae no kafe de tomodachi to hanashimasu.

Why is は read as wa here?

When は is used as the topic particle, it is pronounced wa, not ha.

So in 私は, you read it as watashi wa.

• は as a normal kana in a word: usually ha
• は as a particle: pronounced wa

This is one of the first pronunciation exceptions learners meet in Japanese.

What does は do in this sentence?

は marks the topic of the sentence.

In 私は駅前のカフェで友達と話します, 私は means something like:

• As for me, ...
• I ...

It does not simply work exactly like the English subject marker every time, but in a basic sentence like this, it often lines up with I.

So the sentence is setting 私 as the thing being talked about, and then telling what that person does.

What does 駅前 mean exactly?