haha wa mikan no kawa o muite, kodomo ni agemashita.

My mother peeled a mandarin and gave it to the child.

Breakdown of haha wa mikan no kawa o muite, kodomo ni agemashita.

• は: topic particle
• 子こ供ども: child
• を: direct object particle
• の: possessive case particle

Questions & Answers about haha wa mikan no kawa o muite, kodomo ni agemashita.

Why is は used after 母 instead of が?

は marks 母 as the topic of the sentence: As for Mother, ...

That means the sentence is presenting what the mother did. In many beginner sentences, は is used when the speaker is introducing the person or thing the sentence is about.

If you used が instead, it would sound more like you are specifically identifying mother as the one who did the action, often with a nuance of contrast or emphasis.

So here:

• 母は = As for Mother, ...
• 母が = Mother is the one who ... / more focus on the subject

What does みかんの皮 mean grammatically?

の links two nouns together.

Here:

• みかん = mandarin orange / tangerine
• 皮 = skin, peel

So みかんの皮 means the peel of the mandarin orange or more naturally in English, the mandarin peel.

This is a very common Japanese pattern:

• A の B = B of A / A’s B

Examples:

• 日本の車 = Japanese car / car of Japan
• 猫の耳 = cat’s ears
• りんごの皮 = apple peel

Why is を attached to 皮 and not to みかん?