Breakdown of nyuukanryou ha takai desu.
Questions & Answers about nyuukanryou ha takai desu.
How do you read 入館料?
It is usually read にゅうかんりょう.
- 入館 = entering a building or facility
- 料 = fee, charge
So 入館料 means admission fee or entrance fee.
What does は do in this sentence?
Why is there no separate word for is?
In Japanese, an い-adjective like 高い can act as the main predicate of the sentence by itself.
So:
- 高い = is high / is expensive
The です at the end does not exactly mean the same thing as English is. It mainly makes the sentence polite.
So:
- 入館料は高い。 = casual
- 入館料は高いです。 = polite
Why is it 高いです and not 高いだ or 高いだです?
Because 高い is an い-adjective.
With い-adjectives:
- plain form: 高い
- polite form: 高いです
You do not add だ after an い-adjective.
Compare:
- 静かだ / 静かです → 静か is a な-adjective
- 学生だ / 学生です → 学生 is a noun
- 高い / 高いです → 高い is an い-adjective
Does 高い mean high or expensive here?
Both are related meanings of 高い, but in this sentence it means expensive or high-priced.
Because the topic is a fee, English would usually say:
- The admission fee is expensive
- or The admission fee is high
Both are natural translations.
Could I say 入館料が高いです instead?
Yes, you could. Both are grammatical, but the nuance is a little different.
入館料は高いです
→ As for the admission fee, it is high
This sounds like you are talking about the admission fee as the topic.入館料が高いです
→ The admission fee is what is high
This can sound more like you are identifying or emphasizing what is high.
In many everyday situations, both are possible. For beginners, it is enough to know that は marks the topic and が often marks the subject more directly.
Why are there no words like the or a?
Japanese does not have articles like the or a/an.
So 入館料 could mean:
- the admission fee
- an admission fee
- admission fees
The exact meaning depends on context. In this sentence, English usually translates it as the admission fee.
Can I drop です?
Yes. If you do, the sentence becomes less polite:
- 入館料は高いです。 = polite
- 入館料は高い。 = casual/plain
Both are correct. The version with です is safer in most beginner situations.
How would I make this negative?
You change the い-adjective form:
- 入館料は高くないです。 = The admission fee is not expensive/high.
- 入館料は高くありません。 = a more formal polite negative
Notice that 高い changes to 高くない.
How would I say this in the past?
Is it normal to write spaces like 入館料 は 高い です?
No, not in normal Japanese writing.
Normally it would be written:
入館料は高いです。
Spaces are often added only in textbooks or beginner materials to make the parts easier to see.
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