I am reading chapter 4 from the JLPT N5 book, where I found the following sentence:
昨日勉強しましたか。
After 昨日, why wasn't there a topic particle? Is "昨日は勉強しましたか。" an incorrect sentence?
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Marking it with は is certainly not wrong, and would in fact be natural. It doesn't change the meaning, but if the は is stressed, it will contrast yesterday to all other days, and will thus put stress on the time:
昨日勉強しましたか - Did you study yesterday? (Plain question)
昨日は勉強しましたか - Did you study yesterday? (As opposed to any other day)
However, if the は is not stressed, then は is a normal topic marker and it is still a plain question:
昨日は勉強しましたか - Did you study yesterday? (Plain question, は unstressed)
(Thanks to naruto for pointing this out in the comments.)
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1I would probably say 「昨日は勉強しましたか」 when I want to plainly ask "Did you study yesterday?" as opposed to nothing. – naruto Aug 21 '15 at 02:41
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@naruto So, it doesn't emphasize the time after all? – Blavius Aug 21 '15 at 02:43
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1I think it depends on the pronunciation; when は is stressed, it would be the contrastive-wa, but otherwise it would be the usual topic marker. Perhaps OP just didn't know 昨日 can act as an adverb by itself? – naruto Aug 21 '15 at 02:49
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Huh, I was not aware of that distinction. I will edit my answer. – Blavius Aug 21 '15 at 02:52
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I wonder why nobody say anything about 晩強... – broccoli forest Aug 21 '15 at 05:17
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@broccoliforest あっごめん、コメントに気づかないで編集してしまった・・ – chocolate Aug 21 '15 at 07:59
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Well, you can tell which ones I copied and pasted from the OP's question. lol – Blavius Aug 22 '15 at 04:06