sono koinu wa chiisakute, totemo kawaii desu.

That puppy is small and very cute.

Breakdown of sono koinu wa chiisakute, totemo kawaii desu.

• は: topic particle
• です: to be
• 小ちいさい: small
• とても: very

Questions & Answers about sono koinu wa chiisakute, totemo kawaii desu.

Why is は pronounced wa here instead of ha?

When は is used as the topic particle, it is pronounced wa. This is a standard historical spelling rule in Japanese.

So in this sentence:

• その子犬は = As for that puppy, ...

But when は is part of a regular word, it is usually pronounced ha.

What does その mean, and how is it different from この and あの?

その means that and is used before a noun.

The basic contrast is:

• この = this ... near the speaker
• その = that ... near the listener, or something already mentioned
• あの = that ... over there away from both speaker and listener

So その子犬 means that puppy.

Why is it その子犬 with no の?