kore wa himitsu desu.

this

Breakdown of kore wa himitsu desu.

• は: topic particle
• です: to be
• 秘密ひみつ: a secret

Questions & Answers about kore wa himitsu desu.

Why is は pronounced wa in this sentence?

Because when は is used as the topic particle, it is pronounced wa, not ha.

So in これは秘密です, you read it as:

kore wa himitsu desu

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

This is a very common thing in Japanese, and learners just have to memorize it:

• は as a particle → wa
• は inside regular words → usually ha

What does これ mean here?

これ means this.

It refers to something close to the speaker, either physically or in the conversation.

Examples:

• これ = this
• それ = that (near the listener / something just mentioned)
• あれ = that over there

So in this sentence, これ is the thing being talked about: this.

What is the job of は in this sentence?

は marks the topic of the sentence.

So これは means something like:

• as for this,
• speaking of this,

Then the rest of the sentence says something about that topic:

• これは = as for this
• 秘密です = it is a secret

A natural way to understand the structure is:

As for this, it is a secret.

This is not always translated literally into English, but it helps explain how Japanese sentences are built.