haguki wa akai desu.

topic particle

Breakdown of haguki wa akai desu.

• です: to be
• 赤あかい: red
• 歯茎はぐき: the gums

Questions & Answers about haguki wa akai desu.

How do you pronounce 歯茎 は 赤い です。?

It is usually read:

はぐき は あかい です。
Haguki wa akai desu.

A few pronunciation notes:

• 歯茎 = はぐき (haguki), meaning gums
• The particle は is written ha but pronounced wa
• 赤い = あかい (akai), meaning red
• です = desu, though in natural speech the u is often very light

So the full sentence sounds like:

haguki wa akai desu

Why is は pronounced wa instead of ha?

When は is used as the topic particle, it is pronounced wa.

So in this sentence:

• 歯茎 = gums
• は = topic marker, pronounced wa

This is a very common beginner point in Japanese. The same character は has two roles:

• as a normal syllable in a word: pronounced ha
• as a particle: pronounced wa

So here, 歯茎は is read haguki wa.

What does the particle は do in this sentence?