heijitsu no gogo wa, toshokan ga aite irukoto ga ooi desu.

topic particle

Breakdown of heijitsu no gogo wa, toshokan ga aite irukoto ga ooi desu.

• です: to be
• が: subject particle
• の: possessive case particle

Questions & Answers about heijitsu no gogo wa, toshokan ga aite irukoto ga ooi desu.

Why is 平日 の 午後 used here? What does the の do?

The の connects 平日 and 午後 and makes 平日の午後 mean weekday afternoons or the afternoon on weekdays.

• 平日 = weekday(s)
• 午後 = afternoon
• 平日の午後 = weekday afternoons

You can think of の here as something like of or as a noun linker:

• 週末の夜 = weekend nights
• 夏の朝 = summer mornings

So 平日の午後は means as for weekday afternoons...

Why is there a は after 午後?

The は marks 平日の午後 as the topic of the sentence.

So the sentence is structured like:

• As for weekday afternoons, ...
• On weekday afternoons, ...

This tells the listener what time frame the statement is about.

In English, we often put this kind of information at the beginning naturally:

• On weekday afternoons, the library is often empty.

In Japanese, は is very commonly used to set that stage.

Why is there a が after 図書館 instead of は?