わ or は

In the phrase これは ほんです。 and それは はなです。 Why is it pronounced kore wa hon desu and Sore wa hana desu, but it is spelt kore HA and sore HA?


Thanks!

As a particle, ha is pronounced as wa. Likewise for he, as a particle, it is pronounced as e.

Konnichiwa Thereisnospoon-san!

Yes, Beluga-san is right! It is a rule of Japanese grammar. The postpositional particle of subject word "HA" is pronounced as "WA".

And other different pronunciation words.

The postpositional particle
"HE" is pronounced "E".

Verb
"IU" is sometimes pronounced "YUU". It means "say" in English.

Noun
"Konnichiha" is pronounced "Konnichiwa". It means "hello".

The name of a place
"OOSAKA" is pronounced "OHSAKA". But it is written "OSAKA" in Roman, and is written "OOSAKA" in Japanese.

NANGI

Originally posted by NANGI
Konnichiwa Thereisnospoon-san!

Yes, Beluga-san is right! It is a rule of Japanese grammar. The postpositional particle of subject word "HA" is pronounced as "WA".

And other different pronunciation words.

The postpositional particle
"HE" is pronounced "E".

Verb
"IU" is sometimes pronounced "YUU". It means "say" in English.

Noun
"Konnichiha" is pronounced "Konnichiwa". It means "hello".

The name of a place
"OOSAKA" is pronounced "OHSAKA". But it is written "OSAKA" in Roman, and is written "OOSAKA" in Japanese.

NANGI

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Thats cool to know! i've been wondering why konnichiwa is spelt konnichiha in japanese.....

Porl''

And if you want to break down 'konnichi ha' a bit more. So maybe it's a good idea to know what even some of the simplist stuff means.
kon is 'this'
nichi is 'day' (or for konban ha, ban is evening)
so 'konnichi ha' basically is a topic about today, but sort of an unfinished sentence, which I guess turned in to a greeting.