kore wa muzukashii sentaku desu.

this

Breakdown of kore wa muzukashii sentaku desu.

• は: topic particle
• です: to be
• 難むずかしい: difficult

Questions & Answers about kore wa muzukashii sentaku desu.

Why is は used here, and why is it pronounced wa instead of ha?

In this sentence, は is the topic particle. It marks これ as the thing the sentence is about:

• これ = this
• は = as for / speaking of

So これは means something like as for this or more naturally just this as the topic of the sentence.

Even though the character is written は, when it is used as a particle, it is pronounced wa. This is a special historical spelling that learners just have to memorize.

So:

• written: これは
• pronounced: kore wa

Why is the word order different from English?

Japanese usually puts descriptive information before the noun it describes, and the main statement often comes at the end.

English:

• This is a difficult choice.

Japanese:

• これ は 難しい 選択 です。
• literally: As for this, difficult choice is.

A more natural English rearrangement is:

• This is a difficult choice.

So the word order is normal for Japanese:

1. topic: これ は
2. description + noun: 難しい 選択
3. polite ending: です