nihongo no benkyou wa sukoshizutsu susunde imasu.

My Japanese studies are progressing little by little.

Breakdown of nihongo no benkyou wa sukoshizutsu susunde imasu.

• は: topic particle
• 日に本ほん語ご: Japanese (language)
• の: possessive case particle

Questions & Answers about nihongo no benkyou wa sukoshizutsu susunde imasu.

Why is の used in 日本語の勉強?

の connects two nouns. Here, 日本語 modifies 勉強, so 日本語の勉強 means the study of Japanese or more naturally studying Japanese.

You can think of it like:

• 日本語 = Japanese
• 勉強 = study/studying
• 日本語の勉強 = Japanese study / study of Japanese

This is different from 日本語を勉強する, which uses a verb and means to study Japanese.

Why is は used after 勉強?

は marks the topic of the sentence.

So 日本語の勉強は means as for my Japanese study or regarding Japanese study.

The sentence is not focusing on who is doing the action. Instead, it is talking about the topic Japanese study and then saying something about it: it is progressing little by little.

A rough structure is:

• 日本語の勉強は = As for Japanese study,
• 少しずつ進んでいます = it is progressing little by little.

What does 少しずつ mean?