Breakdown of kono shatsu wa chotto ookii node, betsu no saizu o misete kudasai.
Questions & Answers about kono shatsu wa chotto ookii node, betsu no saizu o misete kudasai.
この means this and refers to something near the speaker or something the speaker is directly indicating.
So このシャツ means this shirt—for example, the shirt you are holding, trying on, or pointing at.
A useful comparison:
- この = this (near me)
- その = that (near you)
- あの = that over there (away from both of us)
The particle は marks the topic of the sentence.
So このシャツは means something like:
- As for this shirt, ...
It sets up the shirt as the thing being talked about. After that, the speaker comments on it: it is a little big, so they want another size.
This is one of the most common patterns in Japanese:
- X は Y = As for X, Y
They are loanwords.
- シャツ = shirt
- サイズ = size
In Japanese, words borrowed from other languages are often written in katakana. That is why these words are not in hiragana or kanji.
For learners, katakana words can be helpful because many come from English, but the pronunciation is adjusted to fit Japanese sound patterns.
