Breakdown of sikaeiseisi ga setumeisimasu.
Questions & Answers about sikaeiseisi ga setumeisimasu.
What does が do in this sentence?
が marks the grammatical subject of the sentence—the person who is doing the action.
So in:
歯科衛生士が説明します。
the 歯科衛生士 is the one who explains.
A natural breakdown is:
- 歯科衛生士 = dental hygienist
- が = subject marker
- 説明します = explains / will explain
So the structure is basically:
[The dental hygienist] [is the one who] explains.
Why is が used instead of は?
This is a very common question.
Both が and は can appear with a noun before a verb, but they do different jobs:
- が marks the subject
- は marks the topic
With が, the sentence sounds more like it is identifying who does the explaining:
- 歯科衛生士が説明します。
= The dental hygienist will explain. / It is the dental hygienist who will explain.
With は, the sentence would sound more like you are talking about the dental hygienist as a topic:
- 歯科衛生士は説明します。
= As for the dental hygienist, they will explain.
In many situations both are possible, but が often feels more natural when introducing or specifying the person who does the action.
Does 説明します mean explains, will explain, or is explaining?
説明します is the polite non-past form, so it can mean:
- explains
- will explain
depending on context.
Examples:
- In a general statement: The dental hygienist explains.
- In an upcoming situation: The dental hygienist will explain.
It usually does not specifically mean is explaining right now.
For that, Japanese often uses a different form:
- 説明しています = is explaining
So 説明します is more like a neutral present/future.
Why is 説明します used instead of just 説明?
Because 説明 by itself is a noun, meaning explanation.
To say to explain, Japanese often uses:
- 説明する = to explain
This is a very common pattern in Japanese:
- 勉強する = to study
- 運動する = to exercise
- 電話する = to call
- 説明する = to explain
Then the polite form of する is します, so:
- 説明する = explain
- 説明します = explain / will explain (polite)
Why is there no word for the, a, or an?
Japanese does not have articles like English a/an and the.
So 歯科衛生士 can mean:
- a dental hygienist
- the dental hygienist
The exact meaning depends on context.
That means 歯科衛生士が説明します。 could be understood as:
- A dental hygienist will explain
- The dental hygienist will explain
English requires you to choose an article, but Japanese usually does not.
Why is there no object, like what the dental hygienist explains?
Because Japanese often omits information that is obvious from context.
In English, you might expect something like:
- The dental hygienist will explain the procedure.
- The dental hygienist will explain it to you.
But in Japanese, if everyone already knows what is being talked about, those parts can be left out.
So:
歯科衛生士が説明します。
can naturally mean something like:
- The dental hygienist will explain.
- The dental hygienist will explain it.
- The dental hygienist will give you an explanation.
Japanese relies heavily on context.
Is 歯科衛生士 one word?
Yes. 歯科衛生士 is a single noun meaning dental hygienist.
It is made up of:
- 歯科 = dentistry / dental
- 衛生 = hygiene
- 士 = specialist / professional
So together it means a professional dental hygiene worker: dental hygienist.
Also, in normal Japanese writing, you would usually write the sentence without spaces:
歯科衛生士が説明します。
Spaces are often added in teaching materials just to make the parts easier to see.
How do you pronounce 歯科衛生士が説明します?
It is pronounced:
しかえいせいし が せつめいします
A rough guide in English-style syllables:
- shi-ka-ei-sei-shi
- ga
- setsu-mei-shi-masu
A few notes:
- 歯科衛生士 = しかえいせいし
- 説明します = せつめいします
- Japanese rhythm is based on even beats, not English-style stress.
So try to say each part evenly rather than heavily stressing one syllable.
Is this sentence polite?
Yes. It is polite because of します, which is the ます-form of する.
- 説明する = plain / dictionary form
- 説明します = polite form
So:
- 歯科衛生士が説明する。 = plain, casual
- 歯科衛生士が説明します。 = polite
The polite form is very common in workplaces, clinics, customer service, and conversations with people you do not know well.
Can the subject be omitted in Japanese?
Yes, very often.
If it is already clear who will explain, Japanese might simply say:
説明します。
That can mean:
- I will explain.
- He/she will explain.
- They will explain.
depending on context.
In your sentence, the subject is included because it is useful to specify that the dental hygienist is the one who will explain.
Does 歯科衛生士 indicate gender?
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