は

See also: ほ, ば, ぱ, and Appendix:Variations of "pa"

は U+306F, は HIRAGANA LETTER HA ← の [U+306E] Hiragana ば → [U+3070]

Japanese

Stroke order

Etymology 1

Derived in the Heian period from writing the man'yōgana kanji 波 in the cursive sōsho style.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ha̠]

Syllable

は (romaji ha)

1. 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

• ば (ba)
• ぱ (pa)

See also

• (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, ゆゅ, よょ, ら, り, る, れ, ろ, わゎ, ゐ, ゑ, を, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ

Etymology 2

/pa/ → /ɸa/ → /wa/

From Old Japanese. Used in the oldest Japanese writings, including the Man'yōshū finished some time after 759 CE. Ultimately from Proto-Japonic *pa.

The spelling was preserved as は (usually read as ha) in the script reform, rather than changed to わ (wa) as would otherwise be expected from the phonetics.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɰᵝa̠]

Particle

は • (wa) 

1. (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, “Today is rain is falling.”)

2. 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

   • 1975, 小田和正 (lyrics), “眠れぬ夜”, performed by オフコース:

     愛(あい)のない毎日(まいにち)は　自由(じゆう)な毎日(まいにち)
     誰(だれ)も僕(ぼく)を責(せ)めたり　できはしないさ

     ai no nai mainichi wa jiyū na mainichi
     dare mo boku o semetari deki wa shinai sa

     Days without love are days of freedom
     No one can pester me anymore

Usage notes

• 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

• ば (ba): conditional conjugation ending
• では (de wa): then, well then, in that case

See also

• が (ga): the subject marker

Further reading

• は as a Japanese topic marker on Wikipedia

Etymology 3

The reading of various kanji terms.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ha̠]

Noun

は • (ha) 

1. 羽: feather
2. 葉: leaf
3. 歯: tooth
4. 端: edge
5. 刃: blade edge
6. 翳: (historical) in ancient times, a kind of fan used by servants to shield the face of nobles
7. 派: group, faction, sect
8. 破: (music) a slower break or section in the middle of a piece of gagaku music
9. 覇: supremacy, hegemony