Japanese
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Stroke order
Etymology 1
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Derived in the Heian period from writing the man'yōgana kanji 波 in the cursive sōsho style.[1] [2]
Pronunciation
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Syllable
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は • (ha )
The hiragana syllable は ( ha ) . Its equivalent in katakana is ハ ( ha ) . It is the twenty-sixth syllable in the gojūon order; its position is は行 あ段 ( ha-gyō a-dan , “ row ha , section a ” ) . Derived terms
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See also
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(Hiragana ) 平仮名 ; あ ぁ , い ぃ , う ぅ ゔ , え ぇ , お ぉ , か ゕ が , き ぎ , く ぐ , け ゖ げ , こ 𛄲 ご , さ ざ , し じ , す ず , せ ぜ , そ ぞ , た だ , ち ぢ , つ っ づ , て で , と ど , な , に , ぬ , ね , の , は ば ぱ , ひ び ぴ , ふ ぶ ぷ , へ べ ぺ , ほ ぼ ぽ , ま , み , む , め , も , や ゃ , 𛀆 , ゆ ゅ , 𛀁 , よ ょ , ら ら゚ , り り゚ , る る゚ , れ れ゚ , ろ ろ゚ , わ ゎ わ゙ , ゐ 𛅐 ゐ゙ , 𛄟 , ゑ 𛅑 ゑ゙ , を 𛅒 を゙ , ん , ー , ゝ , ゞ , ゟ Etymology 2
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/pa/ → /ɸa/ → /wa/
From Old Japanese . Used in the oldest Japanese writings, including the Man'yōshū finished some time after 759 CE.[1] [2] Ultimately from Proto-Japonic *pa .
The particle was excluded from the post-war script reform , rather than changed to わ ( wa ) , which would be more phonetically accurate.
Pronunciation
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Particle
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は • (wa )
unique topic marker, often untranslatable
Antonym: も
これ は 犬( いぬ ) です。Kore wa inu desu. This [the topic, about which we are speaking ] is a dog.
今日( きょう ) は 雨( あめ ) ですね。Kyō wa ame desu ne. It seems like it is raining today.
今日( きょう ) は 雨( あめ ) が降( ふ ) っ ています。Kyō wa ame ga futteimasu. It is raining today. (literally, “As for today, rain is falling.”)
what about , where is ( used without a predicate to ask for more information about something )
中( なか ) 田( だ ) は ?Nakada wa ? Where's Nakada?
じゃ、意( い ) 味( み ) は ? Ja, imi wa ? So, what's the meaning?
Inserted between two verbs for emphasis.
そう 思( おも ) っ ては い ないでしょうか。Sō omotte wa inai deshō ka. Do you not think so?
勝( か ) て るとは思( おも ) っ ては い ないkateru to wa omotte wa inai does not think that one can win
現( あらわ ) れては 消( き ) えたarawarete wa kieta disappeared as soon as it appeared Usage notes
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Note that English has no direct counterpart. For illustrative purposes, it may be translated as "as for", "speaking of", or a similar phrase. For example, "As for this, it is a dog". This often does not produce very natural English, however.
When inserted between two verbs for emphasis, は is usually used with negatives and after a て ( te ) form. This has given rise to ではない ( de wa nai ) , the now standard negative form of だ ( da ) .
も ( mo ) vs は ( ha ) : see も ( mo ) .
は always replaces を ( o ) and が ( ga ) , but may follow other particles.Derived terms
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See also
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Further reading
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Etymology 3
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Interjection
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は • (ha )
( dated , humble ) Used to show agreement or obedience : yes
は 、さよう でございます 。Ha , sayō de gozaimasu.Yes , exactly.
は 、承( しょう ) 知( ち ) いたし ました 。Ha , shōchi itashimashita.Yes , as you wish.Etymology 4
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For pronunciation and definitions of は – see the following entries.
【歯 】 3
[noun] tooth
[noun] ( typography ) a unit equal to 1 Q ( kyū ) and 0.25 mm, abbreviated as H; ha is used for spacing, while Q is used for font size
Alternative spellings H , 牙
(This term, は , is the hiragana spelling of the above terms.)For a list of all kanji read as は , see Category:Japanese kanji read as は .)
(The following entries are uncreated: 端 , 翳 .)
Etymology 5
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For pronunciation and definitions of は – see the following entries.
(This term, は , is the hiragana spelling of the above term.)For a list of all kanji read as は , see Category:Japanese kanji read as は .)
(The following entries are uncreated: 破 , 覇 .)
References
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