kanojo wa joudan o itte waraimashita.

She made a joke and laughed.

Breakdown of kanojo wa joudan o itte waraimashita.

• は: topic particle
• を: direct object particle
• 〜て: connective form
• 彼女かのじょ: she

Questions & Answers about kanojo wa joudan o itte waraimashita.

Why is は used after 彼女?

は marks 彼女 as the topic of the sentence.

So 彼女は means something like as for her or she in natural English.

In this sentence, 彼女 is also the person doing the actions, but Japanese often uses は to introduce the topic instead of using a subject marker like が. If you changed it to 彼女が, the nuance would shift a bit toward emphasizing she as the one who did it.

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• 彼女は = as for her / she
• 彼女が = she with more focus or contrast, depending on context

Why is を used after 冗談?

を marks the direct object of the verb.

Here, the verb is 言う, which means to say.
So 冗談を言う literally means to say a joke.

This is a very common Japanese expression for to joke or to tell a joke.

So:

• 冗談 = joke
• 冗談を言う = to say a joke / to joke / to tell a joke

Even though English might say make a joke or tell a joke, Japanese uses 言う.

What does 言って mean here?