Describing Appearance | ～は…が～

Describe someone's physical features (X has ~ eyes, ~ hair)

N5Person は body-part が adjective

Step 63 of 79 in the N5 study path

N5Japanese Grammar

Describe someone's physical features (X has ~ eyes, ~ hair)

Formation:Person は body-part が adjective

Describing Physical Attributes

Saying "Yuki's eyes are big" in Japanese works differently from English. Instead of making the body part the topic, you make the person the topic. This pattern uses the は and が particles together — see our lesson on adjectives for the basics:

ゆきさんは目(め)が大(おお)きいです。 (Yuki has big eyes.)

Not: ~~ゆきさんの目(め)は大(おお)きいです。~~

The Pattern

[person/thing] は [body part/feature] が [adjective]

The topic (は) is the person. The specific feature (が) is what's being described.

Useful Vocabulary

Body Part	Reading	Meaning
目(め)	め	eyes
髪(かみ)	かみ	hair
背(せ)	せ	height
鼻(はな)	はな	nose
手(て)	て	hands
足(あし)	あし	legs, feet

This pattern also works for objects, not just people.

Example Sentences

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Speed

弟(おとうと)は髪(かみ)が長(なが)いです。
My younger brother has long hair.
田中(たなか)さんは背(せ)が高(たか)くて足(あし)が速(はや)い。
Tanaka is tall and fast.
このコートは袖(そで)が短(みじか)い。
This coat's sleeves are short.
うちの犬(いぬ)は耳(みみ)が大(おお)きい。
Our dog has big ears.
あの家(いえ)は屋根(やね)が赤(あか)くて壁(かべ)が白(しろ)い。
That house's roof is red and its walls are white.
彼女(かのじょ)は目(め)が大(おお)きいです。
She has big eyes.
父(ちち)は手(て)が大(おお)きくて力(ちから)が強(つよ)い。
My father has big hands and is strong.
この犬(いぬ)は足(あし)が短(みじか)いですね。
This dog has short legs, doesn't it.

Quiz Time

Describing Appearance | ～は…が～

6 questions to test what you actually remember.

3 multiple choice2 fill in the blank1 error correction

Want to mix this with other grammar points? Practice in the full Japanese Grammar Quiz.

Browse all Japanese Adjectives