Breakdown of koko wa satsuei kinshi desu.
はwa
topic particle
ですdesu
to be
ここkoko
here
撮影satsuei
photography or filming
Questions & Answers about koko wa satsuei kinshi desu.
What does ここは mean here? Why is there a は after ここ?
ここ means here, and は is the topic marker.
So ここは literally means something like as for here or speaking of this place.
In natural English, we usually would not translate the は directly. It just sets here as the topic, and then the rest of the sentence says something about it:
- ここは = as for here / here
- 撮影禁止です = photography is prohibited
So the full sentence is literally closer to:
- As for here, photography is prohibited.
That sounds unnatural in English, so we normally say:
- Photography is prohibited here.
Why is は pronounced wa instead of ha?
This is one of the first unusual things learners notice in Japanese.
The character は is normally read ha, but when it is used as the topic particle, it is pronounced wa.
So in this sentence:
- ここは is pronounced koko wa
not koko ha.
This is just a standard rule of Japanese grammar and spelling. A few particles have special pronunciations like this.
What does mean exactly?
