Learn Japanese pitch-accent and pronunciation from my Patreon Series "Japanese Phonetics" / dogen Dogen / Dōgen / Japanese / 日本語 / the difference between は and が / は vs. が / ちょっと待って
Wherever my studenst ask "Why it's が here, not は?" and vice versa, I'm like * deep sigh * "Native Japanese speakers write books on the topic and they don't fully understand, there's no way we can. Just accept it and move on" lol Upd. I'm impressed by the amount of different explanations ahah Just to clarify, I do make my students study this topic, all the rules and what not, but sometimes you come across the usage of は/が and genuinely go "huh?"
Yeah. Unless we're talking about an artificial language, the grammar always comes after the language has already been established. So grammar is not the source code of a language, but rather our attempts at modelling it. And because languages evolve over hundreds of years, and often have words and sayings that made sense at the time in history they were conceived, but not any more, on top of all kinds of slang that has been normalized, we're left with languages that are effectively impossible to model accurately. That said, I think が and は isn't overly complex to understand if you have full context. It's just that you don't always get that context. Missing tone of voice, or body language, or not knowing the full history of the discussion or dialogue. Or even the preferences of the person. Working with imperfect information makes it very hard to know for certain why one was used over the other.
My basic impression is that は is a general particle to tell the listener what you're talking about. And が is when you're being specific, for example this specific bike out of all the bikes here is mine. Obviously it's more complex but it gives you a general idea that works most of the time.
@@runningriot7963 so in this example, if we were to make a full sentence without omitting anything, we'd use は for all bikes and が for this specific bike, right?
I yielded long ago on that topic, my Japanese colleagues around me genuinely seem to use it interchangeably too, every language has it's quirks I suppose.
@toyoashihara6242 She taught a lot of smart people (who can speak Japanese although not as 上手 as Dogen) in the past decade, and she still hasn't seen anyone who completely overcome this issue
@@henryxyz1 I guess she just didn't really explain this topic properly as many other teachers,but anyway there's nothing impossible and notice they usually just drop such particles in colloquial speech and they use って instead of は(topic)、とは(explaining words/terms) so if you wanna speak more like a native, I think it's better just to read some more or less proper explanations and pay attention to how it's used in written language first, then you'll figure out how it works in spoken language, but the first thing you should understand が is a case particle(like を、に、へ、で、から、まで) which is used to mark the subject, は is another type of particles(も、さえ、しか、こそ), it's used for some sort of special highlighting and it's added to case particles (には、では、からは、までは) if there's one after a word, but it replaces を and が 私には夢がある。 〇〇は好きですか。 これは使いません。 Good luck!
@@funkygecko I actually believe you can't, if you're going to explain the difference in the following sentence. It just does not feel right. I had passed N1 with 149p btw if that means anything.
@@tapist3482 Well, I am a humble N5-N4 so I'm taking your word on whether it's accurate or not. But still the delivery doesn't leave a lot of room for interpretation as to what joke he was going for (he repeats the sentence a second time but with が instead of は).
For anyone who wants the answer - it is always within your heart. EDIT: I guess I can give some actually useful information about は and が... 1) In sentences with just a subject, you can always use が. (私は)海が大好きです. "あなたの車が美しいです" is an example where you can use both は and が 2) が sounds stronger (lol), so when talking between friends you can say something like 俺が （おれが）、however, in polite speech 私が just sounds kinda wrong? If you think so - yeah, it does sound wrong. Not because grammatically it's wrong, but because it's arrogant. 私が is pretty much "The I" instead of just " I ". If I were to say “私がトッドです" it would have a meaning of "I am the Great Todd, the one you were searching for" 3) は usually means a spotlight, the main actor or the main topic of the sentence. However, you won't go with 私はカレンは犬が大好きと思います, in this case you can simply drop " I " part since "と思う" already implies that it's just your opinion Pretty much it is up to you and the situation you're in
@@vandrar3n waga, warega and warewarega are extremely old versions of saying "I/we". The second and third options are also using Chinese "wo" ( I ). The third option is pretty much a way of the western nobility or royalty saying "we are" instead of "I am". If you were to come to Japan and speak this way, people would indeed find it funny because you're speaking like WW2 veteran while being a young foreigner.
Humanity in a nutshell. 2 lines of "it's within your heart" but when all falls into chaos immediately replaces it with 20+ lines of explanation that will fall through the netherworlds. Sometimes even before the chaos.
When I was studying abroad in Japan, my grammar teacher told us that は tells the listener that the information that FOLLOWS it is important, while が tells the listener that what comes BEFORE it is important. (Unless it's... y'know, a が that goes with an intransitive verb)
Yeah, I teach it the same way. With は the emphasis is actually on the predicate, while が emphasizes the subject. For example, 子どもはテレビを見ている is putting emphasis on the fact that the kid is watching tv (as opposed to doing a different action), while 子どもがテレビを見ている emphasizes that it's a/the kid who is watching tv (and not somebody else)
@@user-ff7sz4ql5p あ、使い方が違うってそういうことだったんですか。じゃ特定の場合に省略したりしてるんじゃないですか? それにしても、自分で書いてみたものですが、下の理論から勉強し始めたらどうですか？ 「が」は主語(subject)を示す格助詞です。 一方、「は」は副助詞の一つで「…について言えば」のようにある物事を主題(topic)として取り立てて、その物事について事実や判断や意見などの新しい情報を述べる時に使います。基本的には「には」、「では」、「からは」、「までは」という風に格助詞の後につけて使いますが、「が」か「を」の場合は相性が悪いのか、「が」か「を」を落として単語の直後につけるわけですね。 ここでは話せない。(ここで話せない) 私には夢がある。(私に夢がある) 私は山田です。(私が山田です) 難しい言葉は使わないで。(難しい言葉を使わないで) 日本語は 難しい。 topic("as for") + comment 猫は 犬は 好きだけど 好きじゃないです。 contrast between two topics 子供には 無理だ。 contrast, another part 大人にはできる is omitted 日本語が難しい。 a thing you feel/felt 雨が降っている。 a thing going on outside
As a Japanese, I can say the difference between "wa" and "ga" cannot be explained by a simple rule. Several Japanese people here have answered confidently, but please understand that they are not getting to the heart of the matter. Japanese people are often overconfident even though they are not educated in Japanese grammar. btw this short is hilarious.
As a Japanese person, I agree with this. Many Japanese people don't even know the conjugation classification of Japanese verbs, so I don't think they can draw anything other than one-sided conclusions about such a complex topic.
I think it's kind of a universal thing that people who speak a language as their native language most of the time have no clue about the linguistics behind it or how to explain different aspects of it.
I'm guessing this is one of those things where it's so complicated that at one point your brain just knows what _feels_ right kinda like how in English adjectives come in a specific order but no one consciously knows that order but if someone says "The black 3 big sheep" it sounds wrong.
Yeah, Hungarian has topic distinction (sentences always start with the topic instead of it being a particle) and as a native speaker, god do people who somehow decide to learn this language create sentences that have a very different meaning due to not knowing how to use this feature correctly.
15 years ago as a teenager with only high school Japanese, I was speaking with a Japanese friend of a family friend, who was a 70 year old woman trying to practise English. She asked me what the difference was between "a" and "the" and, not knowing how to explain definiteness in English, I told her that "a" was が and "the" was は. It still haunts me to this day.
But "a" is used when talking about an unknown or random noun, while "the" is used to talk about a specific noun. A cat is stuck in the tree (could be any cat) The cat is stuck in the tree (I'm talking about a cat in particular)
日本人です。 「は」は、距離があるイメージを持ちます。なので説明する時や、限定する時に使います。 「が」は、それ以外です。 日本語は難しい。→(It is said that)Japanese is difficult. 日本語が難しい→(I think that )Japanese is difficult. 数学が好きです。→I like math. 数学は好きです。→I like math but I don’t like others. でも、必ず当てはまるものではないです。
は IS THE TOPIC MARKER PARTICLE AND が IS THE SUBJECT MARKER PARTICLE AAAAAAAAAA. If you don’t understand, search for Cure Dolly’s organic japanese lesson I swear it’s life changing. This is why the phrase watashi wa unagi desu (unagi=eel) doesn’t mean “I am an eel” but instead, in the context of a restaurant means “as for me, eel” perhaps said after someone else has already ordered. “Being the topic me, eel”. Reading は as “as for…” will save you a lot of time thinking. … that said language is a mess so the real answer is consume a crapton of content until you can reliably just guess correctly based on feeling, while the logic is there you can only simplify language to grammar so far, so good luck. Anyway yapping
On a more serious note. This is CureDollys explanation, which doesn't resolve the "when to actually pick which", but it switches on a bunch of lights: は is a topic marker and a so called "non logical particle". It just plants a flag on something that you might wanna talk about, and it can displce more than just が. For example: パンを食べた。you could gramatically say パンは食べた and the context dictates that it displaced a を. With が this is not possible, as が will always mark the grammatical subject of the clause, so the "doer", so が is a "logical" particle that always assumes the same structural function. Now how does that translate to "actually using it" is still not always clear, but it already helps to realize this difference between が being a strictly logical grammatical marker and は as a simple "general topic flag", which is pretty substantial
Yeah, if you speak another language that has a topic-centric word order it is not that difficult to understand what the difference is - but if you don’t, it’s just like teaching a Slavic language speaker how articles work.
@@JannPoo That is a mediopassive verb with the meaning of “can be heard”, so the subject is what is audible. By nature there’s no way to specify who does the listening. There are lots of languages with similar constructions, even English (although using the normal active verb), see: “I read two books” but “The book reads well”, “I washed my trousers” but “The trousers wash easily”. Or Polish “pisze słowo” (he writes a word) but “jak się pisze slowo” (how is the word spelled?)
@@JannPoo "umi ga kikoeru" is used to express the idea of "i hear the sea", but grammatically translated it doesn't say that, it says "the sea can be/is heard", so the "the sea is doing the action of being heard" and "ga" still marks the subject, as it does everytime. this is exactly what Cure Dollys point is in general: if you use teaching books that translate "umi ga kikoeru" to "i hear the sea", you will really struggle to ever figure out how Japanese actually works. I really recommend you have a look at her channel, and don't get spooked by her strange voice-over voice. She was probably someone severely disabled or ill and had issues speaking so she adopted that online robot persona. But she was surely one of the smartest Japanese teachers here (really kinda in her own league) when it came to understanding structure of Japanese. RIP.
ただの日本語学習者です。 「が」は主語(subject)を示す格助詞です。 一方、「は」は副助詞の一つで「…について言えば」のようにある物事を主題(topic)として取り立てて、その物事について事実や判断や意見などの新しい情報を述べる時に使います。基本的には「には」、「では」、「からは」、「までは」という風に格助詞の後につけて使いますが、「が」か「を」の場合は相性が悪いのか、「が」か「を」を落として単語の直後につけるわけですね。 ここでは話せない。(ここで話せない) 私には夢がある。(私に夢がある) 私は山田です。(私が山田です) 難しい言葉は使わないで。(難しい言葉を使わないで) 日本語は 難しい。 topic("as for") + comment 猫は 犬は 好きだけど 好きじゃないです。 contrast between two topics 子供には 無理だ。 contrast, another part 大人にはできる is implied 日本語が難しい。 a thing you feel/felt 雨が降っている。 a thing going on outside
The only saving grace is that native speakers will still understand what you're trying to say. No different tha people who speak english as a second language make mistakes and we understand them
What I've been learning is that が is used to emphasize that the noun is the subject instead of the direct object: ジョンさんは手紙を書きました, emphasizes how John spent his time. ジョンさんが手紙を書きました。emphasizes who it was who wrote the letter. I'm not too 上手 at Japanese though, so I don't know...
@@Gabu_Dono That's what I meant about は、it seems to place the emphasis on the writing of the letter, rather than John I'm not very good at Japanese, but I think it's helpful in this regard to keep in mind the nature of Japanese society, where people have more clearly defined roles than they do here in America, if that makes sense. When I'm using は、I'm thinking of it as describing an overall situation in which, as you said, other people are doing things while John is writing a letter. I don't know if that's right or not, that's just what I imagine, 日本語は上手じゃない...
@@Gabu_DonoI'm a relatively advanced jp learner and it seems many learners and even teachers not aware of how they work even in general. Topic marker は has two main functions 1) taking something as the topic (without any contrast) like in [A]は好きですか I set a new topic A and the question is 好き or 好きじゃない 2) making contrast, sentences with it have two parts(one part can be separated by 。or omitted), one topic in each of them and you oppose or compare them,but it doesn't have a function of marking the subject, it replaces both を and が (as well as other special particles like も、こそ、さえ、しか) but you add it to case markers に、で、から、まで,so it's just another type of particles you add after case markers,but を and が get replaced. And even less people are aware that が doesn't have to emphasize anything because it has 2 functions: 1) marking the subject,when it's not the topic but the part of one thing (a thing that happened,a modifier phrase,a reason etc),so as well as 雨が降っている is one thing that is happening, sentences like ジョンさんが手紙を書きました can be used when we say about it as something that happened/will happen/is happening like in news,but not only 2) defining the subject of something that is already known or/and set, it can be like [subject]が[something that is already known about it],but it's also the one you also use with question words like 誰、何、どこ etc 日本語は難しい(と思う) can be as topic+comment/judgement/fact about it 日本語が難しいなあ can be as one thing you feel hope it helps.
@@avidlearner312 Yes, I like to translate "Nは” as "As for N", since that most encapsulates both contrastive and topic uses. People often talk of "emphasis", but it's more of a "this is what I'm going to talk about". However, in order to use は, the noun absolutely *must* be known to both users. The various uses of が can become quite complex. In addition to the uses you've (correctly) mentioned, が can also mark what might be considered the direct object in sentences with adjectives 私は彼女が羨ましい or 私はすしがほしい or "車が好き” . Usually such adjectives org. came from verbs, hence concept that they mark a subject. Such adjectives often describe hopes, abilities, likes and dislikes. Unlike は 、が CAN be used to introduce new information, as in 昔々、あるおじいさん *が* 住んでいました。おじいさん *は* とても貧乏でした。（from A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar) Introducing new feelings and information is, in fact, one of the ways it's used. For instance, if you see that a girl has become angry you can say 彼女が起こった to the change, or if you look to the ocean and say あっ、海がきれい to describe your feelings. I like to use "気分が変わった” as a way to remember this use. There are various other advanced uses besides. Because it can be pretty confusing for learners, I like to say "in Japanese we often don't explicitly mention the subject, unless there is a special reason to do so". All of the cases above (incl. the ones you mentioned) are then special cases of it. There are various models of grammar and there are a number of Japanese authors and scholars who don't even agree that Japanese has a subject. In addition there are also whole academic articles in Japanese dedicated to the differences between は and が, so it isn't always clear cut.
｢それは私のペンです。｣→急に机の上のペンについて誰のものかを聞かれて答える時。 ｢それが私のペンです。｣→ 私のペンは可愛いんだよ！と事前に話していて、そのペンが置いてあった時に答える時。 "a","the"と近しいものを感じます。 また、強調にも使われます。 ｢私は世界を旅します。｣→普通の文。特に強調なし。 ｢私が世界を旅します。｣→"私"を強調。 ｢それは私のペンです。｣→ When you are suddenly asked about a pen on your desk and who it belongs to, and you answer about it. ｢それが私のペンです。｣→ My pen is pretty! and when I talk about it beforehand and answer when that pen is placed on the table. It feels close to "a" and "the". It is also used for emphasis. ｢私は世界を旅します。｣→ Ordinary sentence. No special emphasis. ｢私が世界を旅します。｣→ Emphasis on "I"
は is used to mark the TOPIC of a sentence, が is for the SUBJECT of a sentence. In the case the が is hidden, like 私は日本人だ, the が is hidden like (私は０が日本人だ, where the 0 represents nothing as the subject) It can be translated as "As for me, (it) is Japanese" where by context (it) is me. In a sentence like 彼は辛いものが好きだ, it would roughly mean "As for him, spicy things are likeable"
honestly even after taking so many years of test , i am still confused. They say using ha after a topic is placing the emphasis on the topic itself and if you use ga , its more on the emphasis on the back. Then they have explicit rule like if you are describing something or you are not sure , you have to use ga but then when you state facts you kind of can use ha . its just hagahaga situation with this i dun even know i am right or wrong with the above
They can mean different things and some sentences don’t make sense with は but do with が. For example 何が？ makes sense but 何は? doesn’t, if I remember correctly. I don’t think I’ve fully got it down but Tae Kim’s grammar guide helped quite a bit for me.
Makes sense if you've encountered this exact issue along with the usual "explanation" ("it's for emphasis!") The usage is so muddied, and it's even worse since spoken / written -also- differ
There is also dé and de 得 的 the first is um I don’t really know but the second is a possessive like wo de gou my dog if it was wo gou it would be “me dog” or “I dog”
I explained this to my friend taking Japanese that whenever you’re translating “が” just imagine there’s as additional “the one that” in the sentence, like “I did it” vs. “I was the one that did it,” it doesn’t work all the time but it was the best way I could explain it
FWIW, when I learned Japanese back in college in rural Pennsylvania in the late '90s (the best place to learn Japanese, clearly!), the textbook we were using would regularly translate は as "(at least)." Which sounds like absolute nonsense, and... kind of is... but I'll be darned if that line of thinking hasn't actually served me well all this time! It weirdly kind of works to differentiate when to use は versus が. Basically, if you can't fit "at least" into the sentence there, then you're going to want to use が -- e.g. "I, at least, really love dogs." 私は犬が大好きです。 You could also think of it as "for one" rather than "at least," e.g. "I, for one, really love dogs." It's a very strange, quirky way of teaching は, as most things in that textbook were, but seriously... for as weird a mnemonic-esque device as that may be, it genuinely does help determine which particle to use on the fly with a surprisingly high success rate.
I remember when in class we were talking about the difference about using 'wa' and 'ga'. My teacher said that his friend took this topic for his thesis and took weeks (or was it months) to finish. My friend just simplify it by saying just so we won't use double ''wa'' in a sentence. I don't know if that made sense but my teacher agreed and feel pity for his friend that the thesis that took months to finish is solved in 5 minutes. (On other notes, this was a light conversation.)
Guuuuuys. It's pretty easy. Look at this 水面に映る自分が言った And 水面に映る自分は言った What's the difference? Simple. The first one shows, that the "Me, who descended in the sea had said", that's the point of が, while the second is "Me, who descended in the sea is said". At least that's how I differ them. が for action, は for explanation/description
が gives a strong connection between subject and verb/adjective that they feel like a combined word. It's similar to the pattern (adj)-(n)ed or (n)-(v)ed in English, like bare-footed. は puts distance away from the verb/adjective and introduces a point of reference for the next statement. It's like saying "as for __" or "with reference to __". When combined, it can sound awkward when you translate it literally into English because English doesn't really have these concepts. For example, a verbose translation of "私(わたし)は日本語(にほんご)がわかる" would be "We're going to talk about me now: I am Japanese-abled," or "With reference to me: Japanese is clear," but a simpler translation would be "I understand Japanese."
Watch cure dollys explanation because shes the best teacher ive found so far. She explains japanese sentence structure as a train が marks the subject and is the engine while は marks the topic and is a flag. は is more of an equivalent of "as for me" so 私はアメリカじんです will directly translate to "as for me, i am American" But if you use が then "as for me" wouldn't be in the sentence. Theres a joke in japan where a Japanese learner is taking someones order and asks what they'd like to eat. The first person orders something and then the learner asks the second person.That person would respond with something like "私はすしだ” (as for me, I'd like sushi). The learner would understand that as "i am sushi" and be confused because of the ways apps and such teach Japanese. I hope this is helpful T-T
は gives emphasis to the words after it, が gives emphasis before it and is used when there is new information or questions. tokini andy has a video about は and が
The emphasis changes depending on what is used. A good example isこれがりんごですvs これはりんごです。 The difference is THAT is an apple vs that is an APPLE. The first sentence would be for answering the question “which one is an apple” (the apple isn’t the important information for the listener and it can be assumed you are talking about the apple so you could drop it and say “that one”). Where the second one is the answer to “what is that” (you both know “that” is what your referring too but the important information is apple so it can be shorted to “an apple” and it still answers the question. TLDR が stresses the topic as important or new information to listener. は stresses information about topic or shows topic change. An easy way to tell which to use is if the English translation can drop the subject or object (for ga you can drop the object and for ha you can drop that topic/subject). Other than that, use either.
To people still worried by that, the best advice I can give you is, do not worry about it. Rules in this case do not matter, it is something that will come naturally to you as you get better at the language. The best analogy I can give is "a" vs "an", a clear rule exists, but you don't have to stop think about it every time you need to use one or other.
I don’t understand why this is so difficult for some people. Understanding the difference between wa and ga is easy. Wa looks like this わ and ga looks like this が. Hope this helps!
It's very easy. "は" is the "contrastive" particle: it's used to contrast a notion against another (explicit or implicit). "が is the "selective" particle: its job is to highlight a notion from out of a set (explicit or implied). But sometimes the nuances in meaning are so small in context as to be trivial, and in many cases they become interchangeable, especially when people cease to care about them. A bit like the nuances of using the various past tenses in English: simple past, present and past perfect. (Did, have done, had done). I don't always bother to use them all "properly" when speaking or writing.
Yes my friend trust me they even make book that's have the same page with dictionary just for explain what the diference but for me have the experience of learning at the end you will know what the diference just by feeling
Not a native speaker, not fluent, so please take this with a heaped tablespoon of salt, BUT I do seem to remember someone saying that it's a bit unusual to use は with an adjective in the way you did. Your first sentence would mean something like "the doughnut is good, but all the other things are bad", with the emphasis being on the contrast between the doughnut and everything else. So, like, その犬は大きい would mean "that dog is the big one, the other ones are small". As far as I've noticed, this particular quirk is specific to adjectives. It's the only scenario I've seen where the vibe of は (usually puts the previous noun in the background) and が (usually puts the previous noun in the foreground) are sort of backwards. Just something you've got to learn, I guess. If I'm wrong about this, please can someone correct me!
が is used to mark the doer or subject like "Watashi GA, Amerikajin da.." I am an American. は can be used when saying "As for me, i am an american..." which is WatashiWA amerikajin da. or "as for the ball,..", "BooruWA..."
The way i"ve understood it so far while learning is that が is used for secondary subjects in a sentence and は is reserved for primary subjects. If a sentence only has one subject but uses が then that means there is an implied primary subject. So for instance, "これが好きです"(I like this) the secondary subject is what これ(this) refers to and the implied primary subject would be the first person pronoun that is omitted for brevities sake: 私、僕、俺 (all different ways to say "I"). So another way to say the sentence to include both subjects would be 私はこれが好きです。
That’s correct but I think that’s just the main usage, I know が can also be used to call attention to the subject as well for example, if I wanted to ask, who ate the cake? (誰ケーキを食べた？), if you said, 弟はそのケーキを食べた, then that’s like, as for my younger brother, he ate that cake, but if you said 弟がそのケーキを食べた, then that calls attention to the subject saying, *my younger brother* ate that cake. I don’t know if that makes sense and I’m still learning too but I’ve seen it used this way as well.
@@oliviaakonzee8011that's the second usage of が, it's used to define the subject of the already known info, but the already know info can be used as the topic so you can rephrase it with は: 誰がケーキを食べた?→ ケーキを食べたのは誰?
You're partly right,but actually は is just another type of particles which is used to highlight/put a special focus/empathize (like さえ、も、こそ、しか). It marks a word as the topic/gives it a special place in a sentence/clause and it should be added to case particles like に+は、で+は、から+は、まで+は but it replaces both が and を.
First you gotta know how Japanese works. But once you do, it's like this: は＝is が＝the one that is 青いのは好き I do like blue ones 青いのが好き Blue ones are the ones that I like 空は赤い！Skies are (normally) red! 空が赤い！The sky is (the things that is) red (and it's not normal)! 痛い！ It hurts! 何が？ What (is the thing that) [hurts (implied since がis used)]? 心が。。。My heart (is the thing that [hurts]) 弟は来る little brother is coming (but didn't say anyone else is coming) 弟が来る little brother is (the one who is) coming. (as a response to "who is the one that is coming?") In this way Japanese people differentiate between saying は something is, and が something is the thing that is doing/being.
I was fussed about this for about 1 minute. After that I realized that messing it up will never cause trouble in communication, so I moved on to use my time on more important matters... also if possible drop the particles as much as you can 😂
は operates at the level of discourse rather than the more grammatical level of the sentence. It marks what is being talked about at the present time as the "topic" but not necessarily the "(grammatical) subject". It can hold its influence within the discourse over multiple sentences/clauses, and only changes when there is a context shift (either overtly or implicitly). Due to its nature, marking the topic of conversation, it very often does mark the subject of a given sentence or clause, and thus a lot of foreign learners (and a surprising number of Japanese natives) can mistake it for a subject marker. It is not however. が is a straight subject marker. It operates within the bounds of one specific clause or sentence, and once that sentence is over, it must be reiterated (or more often, marked with は to turn it into a new discourse topic) in order to have a function within subsequent sentences. は, functioning above the level of sentence mechanics, typically hides another particle that would otherwise do the work within the sentence grammar were は not to be there. eg. 像は鼻が長い。> 像の鼻が長い。 私は子供が三人いる。> 私に子供が三人いる。 While the above sentences are translated into English so that the は marked nouns are the subject, in Japanese they are just complements within the sentence serving to further expand on the predicate. In both sentences above, the noun marked with が is the subject, though not the topic. Hopefully that makes sense of the respective functions of these two particles for people who are still mystified by them.
I assume it could just be explained the same as the difference between the words "a" and "an" where "an" is basically just used when the word "a" rolls off the tongue weird( in this situation, when the word after it starts with a vowel)
I was told that one marks the subject and the other marks the topic. It's just that, y'know... a subject can be a topic, and vice versa. So the advice I got was just say whichever one feels right, talk fast, and nobody will notice you got it wrong.
I was taught は is used for subjects of a sentence, and が is used for objects being acted upon, unless used at the end of a sentence where it is used as a transition to an explanation that the first part of the compound sentence needs for clarity...
There are cases where は is used for objects and が acting as an object is more typical of cases like 好きです or 分かる (and even then, that's more or less debateable).
For those wondering the correct one to use there is は Use wa when your subject is the answer to a question どこ出身ですか where are you from? 私は日本人です I am japanese Use ga when your object is the answer to the question ここの誰が日本人ですかwho here is japanese? 私が日本人です I am japanese (emphasis on I)
The way I've personally experienced it, is that there is no good explanation that will always work - it's something that just has to be picked up via tons of repeated input...
Funny, but really, it's not complicated at all, it's just an issue of traditional academia: が connects 主語 (the doer) to 述語 (what the doer does / is, etc). That's it. は is a completely different particle that merely marks the topic. The issues stem from: 1. が can be omitted (so-called Øが) 2. が can be used for emphasis 3. Usage of Western grammar terminology for Eastern languages (such as calling 主語 a subject) Also が pushes the attention back (to the 主語) while は pushes it forward. When you stop thinking of these two as related it stops being confusing. The problem is that traditional learning sources fail to present it properly, to the point of omitting the topic or even being just wrong.
There are ways to think about it that will work in the majority of cases. But in general I think it's just something you pick up. That being said it's not like anyone corrects my use of は and が so it's not like I'd realise if I chose one that sounds unnatural.
は is used when "I'm going to talk about it, and I don't care anything other." が is used when "It is the only one that is so, and nothing other here is same as it." 彼"は"先生です。 He is a teacher. (I'm talking about just him, so there may be other teachers.) 彼"が"先生です。 He is the teacher. (It's like you were looking for or waiting for the teacher, and you finally found him.)
が marks subject. は marks topic (in a distinguished way). も marks topic (in an inclusive way). That's it. That's all the rules. Sometimes a subject is the topic, sometimes its not. But with this, everything makes sense.
As someone who has been self studying Japanese for 2 years, it was one of the hardest problems to crack, but over time, it just started making more sense, probably because I had experience with enough example sentences and didn’t have to use artificial understanding to put sentences together, I just happened to know deep inside. I suppose it’s just a practice/do it thing, not a technically understand it and do it thing.
Easy way to understand the difference. Wa is for placing the emphases after the wa. Ga is for placing the emphasis before the ga. For example, watashi wa ringo wo tabemasu. Means i ate the APPLE. The apple is the important information or new information in the sentence. But if we know someone ate the apple, and you wanna clarify you ate the apple. Watashi ga ringo wo tabemasu. Means *I* ate the apple. Emphasis on the I
To my understanding the differences of those two sentences is that "watashi wa ringo wo tabemasu" means I'm eating an apple but someone is else could be eating something else or nothing at all, it's also possible that someone else is also eating an apple I'm just speaking for myself. While "watashi ga ringo wo tabemasu" means "I'm eating an apple, not you, not him, I'm the one who's eating that".
"a" and "an" for generic items (e.g any apple), "the" for specific items (e.g the exact apple you are holding) Nothing is used when it's not a countable thing. You can't have 5 beautys or 7 airs. "a" for words starting with constant sounds (a umbrella) and "an" for words starting with vowel sounds (an apple). Note that it is sounds not letters, it's "an honour" because honour starts with a vowel sound. Hope this helps
@@DavidCruickshankthough... You can say "5 beauties", if you're talking about people 🤭 And "5 heirs" is valid and sounds exactly the same as "5 airs" which you can't say 🤔 Not to mention "the air" as in "the air you breathe", and "an air" as in "he had an air about him" I think English is full of its own confusing grammar hahaha
@@nickhafner2518 in this context, "beauty" is used as a noun instead also, i've never heard anyone ever say "he had an air". either very nonstandard or american
Some times we use Ga to make the mean stronger than Wa. Watashi wa o da (Just a fact, introduction) Watashi ga o da (Look me! I'm the king, others are not!)
It's funny, because I read your example in the opposite manner. は is an exclusive topic marker. It marks one thing and excludes everything else. So if you start with 私は, you're saying "We're talking about ME, and nobody else". I AM the king, nobody else. Only me. But if you go 私が, you're emphasising the comment that comes after it. That you're the KING. Other people might be Kings too, but you're one for sure.
@@Archangel591 Oh no.....exactly I found such a situation in my memory, like A"Kore taberu?" B"Un!" C"Watasi wa iranai"(B wants to eat, but I don't) but my saying is also true, for example the My Hero Academia's Almight says "Watashi ga kita" when he cames into the fighters. and it include emotion like a (Strong I came here so don't worry anymore.) In short, now I can only say...Shit!
That is why I always say that “wa” is used with nouns and “ga” is used with objects…I am not the king (Watashi wa o de wa arimasen)…The king is me (Watashi ga o desu)…or (O wa, Watashi ga desu)…
I feel like it's somewhat like the difference between to and of. Theoretically they're different but in practice they're interchangeable in many scenarios.
The simple answer is that there’s not really any hard rule about when to use one over the other. That doesn’t mean that they can be used interchangeably, you’re just never going to learn to use them correctly by memorizing rules. Accept that you will make mistakes in the beginning and move on. You’ll develop a feel for it naturally.
some one taught me (unless i imagined it) that が emphasises the thing before while は emphasised the thing after (i remember it as g comes before w in the alphabet, so it emphasises the before) example (?) 俺はマリオ i am MARIO!! いや、俺がマリオ no, *I* am Mario!! ^sorry if that's wrong im still learning
Wherever my studenst ask "Why it's が here, not は?" and vice versa, I'm like * deep sigh * "Native Japanese speakers write books on the topic and they don't fully understand, there's no way we can. Just accept it and move on" lol
Upd. I'm impressed by the amount of different explanations ahah
Just to clarify, I do make my students study this topic, all the rules and what not, but sometimes you come across the usage of は/が and genuinely go "huh?"
Yeah. Unless we're talking about an artificial language, the grammar always comes after the language has already been established. So grammar is not the source code of a language, but rather our attempts at modelling it.
And because languages evolve over hundreds of years, and often have words and sayings that made sense at the time in history they were conceived, but not any more, on top of all kinds of slang that has been normalized, we're left with languages that are effectively impossible to model accurately.
That said, I think が and は isn't overly complex to understand if you have full context. It's just that you don't always get that context. Missing tone of voice, or body language, or not knowing the full history of the discussion or dialogue. Or even the preferences of the person.
Working with imperfect information makes it very hard to know for certain why one was used over the other.
My basic impression is that は is a general particle to tell the listener what you're talking about. And が is when you're being specific, for example this specific bike out of all the bikes here is mine. Obviously it's more complex but it gives you a general idea that works most of the time.
@@runningriot7963 so in this example, if we were to make a full sentence without omitting anything, we'd use は for all bikes and が for this specific bike, right?
Sounds about right. "These" things vs "my" thing. "Certain" red buttons vs "that" red button etc
Kimi "ga" ireba sorede ii.
Kimi wa dare? Lol.
I yielded long ago on that topic, my Japanese colleagues around me genuinely seem to use it interchangeably too, every language has it's quirks I suppose.
“Interchangeably” yeah only if it’s the case where you can
「これが好き」と「これは好き」とかそんな場合じゃなければな
@@jasonpark5247 yes but those cases seem to be more frequent than not.
every language does indeed have *its* quirks
@@SleepyTFtop 10 reasons why I hate the English language:
It's a case by case type of thing. 😂
Years ago I asked a Japanese editor on how to choose the correct one, she said nah don't worry you'll never master that😂
The lady knows.
Ofc you won't if you just believe in such words (don't forget, there's nothing impossible about languages)
did he mean you're not intelligent enough?
@toyoashihara6242 She taught a lot of smart people (who can speak Japanese although not as 上手 as Dogen) in the past decade, and she still hasn't seen anyone who completely overcome this issue
@@henryxyz1 I guess she just didn't really explain this topic properly as many other teachers,but anyway there's nothing impossible and notice they usually just drop such particles in colloquial speech and they use って instead of は(topic)、とは(explaining words/terms) so if you wanna speak more like a native, I think it's better just to read some more or less proper explanations and pay attention to how it's used in written language first, then you'll figure out how it works in spoken language, but the first thing you should understand が is a case particle(like を、に、へ、で、から、まで) which is used to mark the subject, は is another type of particles(も、さえ、しか、こそ), it's used for some sort of special highlighting and it's added to case particles (には、では、からは、までは) if there's one after a word, but it replaces を and が
私には夢がある。
〇〇は好きですか。
これは使いません。
Good luck!
There's two jokes in the video: one is in English, the other is in Japanese. It's so funny how the meanings can be completely lost in translation
I feel like the joke is that the English subtitle is what Dogen supposed to say but when he put it into words he hesitated.
@@tapist3482 I think the joke in Japanese is that upon saying “はとがの違いは…” he realizes that が could have replaced は there too.
@@funkygecko I actually believe you can't, if you're going to explain the difference in the following sentence. It just does not feel right.
I had passed N1 with 149p btw if that means anything.
@@tapist3482 Well, I am a humble N5-N4 so I'm taking your word on whether it's accurate or not. But still the delivery doesn't leave a lot of room for interpretation as to what joke he was going for (he repeats the sentence a second time but with が instead of は).
@@tapist3482Embarrassing
Hahaha. That immediate questioning of one's self head snap is so relatable.
For anyone who wants the answer - it is always within your heart.
EDIT: I guess I can give some actually useful information about は and が...
1) In sentences with just a subject, you can always use が. (私は)海が大好きです. "あなたの車が美しいです" is an example where you can use both は and が
2) が sounds stronger (lol), so when talking between friends you can say something like 俺が （おれが）、however, in polite speech 私が just sounds kinda wrong? If you think so - yeah, it does sound wrong. Not because grammatically it's wrong, but because it's arrogant. 私が is pretty much "The I" instead of just " I ". If I were to say “私がトッドです" it would have a meaning of "I am the Great Todd, the one you were searching for"
3) は usually means a spotlight, the main actor or the main topic of the sentence. However, you won't go with 私はカレンは犬が大好きと思います, in this case you can simply drop " I " part since "と思う" already implies that it's just your opinion
Pretty much it is up to you and the situation you're in
😂😂
Interesting! Nice explanation
I feel like anime makes fun of people saying 私が, I just had some sort of flashback about it.
@@vandrar3n waga, warega and warewarega are extremely old versions of saying "I/we". The second and third options are also using Chinese "wo" ( I ). The third option is pretty much a way of the western nobility or royalty saying "we are" instead of "I am".
If you were to come to Japan and speak this way, people would indeed find it funny because you're speaking like WW2 veteran while being a young foreigner.
Humanity in a nutshell. 2 lines of "it's within your heart" but when all falls into chaos immediately replaces it with 20+ lines of explanation that will fall through the netherworlds. Sometimes even before the chaos.
This is pure genius. Especially the non literal translation!
When I was studying abroad in Japan, my grammar teacher told us that は tells the listener that the information that FOLLOWS it is important, while が tells the listener that what comes BEFORE it is important. (Unless it's... y'know, a が that goes with an intransitive verb)
Yeah, I teach it the same way. With は the emphasis is actually on the predicate, while が emphasizes the subject. For example, 子どもはテレビを見ている is putting emphasis on the fact that the kid is watching tv (as opposed to doing a different action), while
子どもがテレビを見ている emphasizes that it's a/the kid who is watching tv (and not somebody else)
Thank you lol. All the comments about how we can't master this are seriously unhelpful
@@l4krdon't fall into the trap of thinking that this is some catch-all magic rule for it. If it was, there wouldn't be so much confusion over it.
日本語学を学んでた日本語母語話者ですが
めちゃくちゃ分かる。
理屈を説明することならできるけど、その説明中にさらっと言った「は」や「が」は何故そっちでなければならなかったのか、そんなことを考え出すと何にも分からなくなる。
それに研究論文とかによると、どうやら書き言葉と話し言葉でも使い方が違うようです。
話し言葉では「は」は専ら対比の意味でしか使われないらしく、主題はそもそも言及されないか、名詞の後ろに何も付けずに裸で表現したりする手法が普通らしい。
例：寒っ！ お前、太った？ ドーゲンやばくね？
うん、わからん
ただの日本語学習者ですが、話し言葉では使い方が違うというよりできれば「は」や「が」、「を」などの助詞をつけずに言うのが普通なのではないかと思います。
@@avidlearner312 そう思うじゃないですか。
でも研究論文によると、現代日本人は話し言葉でただ闇雲に「が」や「は」を省略してる訳じゃないみたいなんですね。
たとえば、「ドーゲンくん空飛んでる！」は言えるけど、「ドーゲンくん空飛んでるとき」とは言いづらくて「が」を入れたくなる。
「誰が飛んでたの？」に対して「ドーゲンくん空飛んでたんだよ」と答えるのも違和感、やはり「が」が欲しい。
逆に最初のコメで書いた「オマエ太った？」を「オマエは太った？」というように、「は」を付けて言うと違和感が出る。
Aくん痩せたねー！(それに比べてオマエは)っていう前会話がある場合じゃないとおかしい。
つまり、書き言葉では「が」「は」が常に必要とされるのに比べ、話し言葉では「あると違和感」「ないと違和感」両方のパターンが見られる。
このことからも、これは単に省略しているとは呼べず、もはや書き言葉と話し言葉では「が」と「は」の使い方そのものが違うのだ！
って偉い先生が言ってました
@@user-ff7sz4ql5p あ、使い方が違うってそういうことだったんですか。じゃ特定の場合に省略したりしてるんじゃないですか?
それにしても、自分で書いてみたものですが、下の理論から勉強し始めたらどうですか？
「が」は主語(subject)を示す格助詞です。
一方、「は」は副助詞の一つで「…について言えば」のようにある物事を主題(topic)として取り立てて、その物事について事実や判断や意見などの新しい情報を述べる時に使います。基本的には「には」、「では」、「からは」、「までは」という風に格助詞の後につけて使いますが、「が」か「を」の場合は相性が悪いのか、「が」か「を」を落として単語の直後につけるわけですね。
ここでは話せない。(ここで話せない)
私には夢がある。(私に夢がある)
私は山田です。(私が山田です)
難しい言葉は使わないで。(難しい言葉を使わないで)
日本語は
難しい。
topic("as for") + comment
猫は 犬は
好きだけど 好きじゃないです。
contrast between two topics
子供には
無理だ。
contrast, another part 大人にはできる is omitted
日本語が難しい。
a thing you feel/felt
雨が降っている。
a thing going on outside
@@user-ff7sz4ql5p ちなみに「とは」と「は」の代わりに「って」も言いますね。
@@avidlearner312 一応、日本語学を少し学んでいたので
格助詞ととりたて助詞の違いとか、主格と主題の違いとか
それくらいは存じているつもりです。
が、確かに私の解説では誤りや伝わりづらい点も多いと思うので
私が上で述べたこと＝使い方が違うと断じる根拠
の参照元の論文を下記に貼っておきます。
下地理則. 2019. 「現代日本共通語（口語）における主語の格標示と分裂自動詞性」竹内史郎・下地理則編著『日本語諸方言の格標示と分裂自動詞性』東京：くろしお出版．
まさに「って」の話も論文中に出てきたはずなので
(話し言葉では「は」の代わりに「って」が主題を表す標識の一つとして用いられる云々)
興味があればぜひ！
As a Japanese, I can say the difference between "wa" and "ga" cannot be explained by a simple rule.
Several Japanese people here have answered confidently, but please understand that they are not getting to the heart of the matter.
Japanese people are often overconfident even though they are not educated in Japanese grammar.
btw this short is hilarious.
As a Japanese person, I agree with this.
Many Japanese people don't even know the conjugation classification of Japanese verbs, so I don't think they can draw anything other than one-sided conclusions about such a complex topic.
馬鹿にしないでください！40％くらいは知っています！…多分｡
I think it's kind of a universal thing that people who speak a language as their native language most of the time have no clue about the linguistics behind it or how to explain different aspects of it.
The fun part is this actually covers it. 😂
ちょ、ちょ待っての言い方好きすぎるw
言い方( )好きすぎる😂
I'm guessing this is one of those things where it's so complicated that at one point your brain just knows what _feels_ right kinda like how in English adjectives come in a specific order but no one consciously knows that order but if someone says "The black 3 big sheep" it sounds wrong.
Yeah, Hungarian has topic distinction (sentences always start with the topic instead of it being a particle) and as a native speaker, god do people who somehow decide to learn this language create sentences that have a very different meaning due to not knowing how to use this feature correctly.
IT is governed by the adjectival rule of order.
@@kamalkrishnabaralBro your comment got duplicated like 5 times.
@@kakahass8845 My bad.
15 years ago as a teenager with only high school Japanese, I was speaking with a Japanese friend of a family friend, who was a 70 year old woman trying to practise English. She asked me what the difference was between "a" and "the" and, not knowing how to explain definiteness in English, I told her that "a" was が and "the" was は. It still haunts me to this day.
💀😂 well that adds another layer of confusion
But "a" is used when talking about an unknown or random noun, while "the" is used to talk about a specific noun.
A cat is stuck in the tree (could be any cat)
The cat is stuck in the tree (I'm talking about a cat in particular)
@@SG-jc1pe Yes I know, but 15yo me just wanted to provide an answer he didn't have.
日本人です。
「は」は、距離があるイメージを持ちます。なので説明する時や、限定する時に使います。
「が」は、それ以外です。
日本語は難しい。→(It is said that)Japanese is difficult.
日本語が難しい→(I think that )Japanese is difficult.
数学が好きです。→I like math.
数学は好きです。→I like math but I don’t like others.
でも、必ず当てはまるものではないです。
ああ、なるほど。
私は今日本語を勉強しているので、とても助かります！
そうだね？わかりやすい方を教えてくれてありがとう
If only it was this easy.
"However this is not always the case" has me rolling
@@PointsofData i missed that part lmaoo
は IS THE TOPIC MARKER PARTICLE AND が IS THE SUBJECT MARKER PARTICLE AAAAAAAAAA. If you don’t understand, search for Cure Dolly’s organic japanese lesson I swear it’s life changing.
This is why the phrase watashi wa unagi desu (unagi=eel) doesn’t mean “I am an eel” but instead, in the context of a restaurant means “as for me, eel” perhaps said after someone else has already ordered. “Being the topic me, eel”. Reading は as “as for…” will save you a lot of time thinking.
… that said language is a mess so the real answer is consume a crapton of content until you can reliably just guess correctly based on feeling, while the logic is there you can only simplify language to grammar so far, so good luck. Anyway yapping
On a more serious note. This is CureDollys explanation, which doesn't resolve the "when to actually pick which", but it switches on a bunch of lights: は is a topic marker and a so called "non logical particle". It just plants a flag on something that you might wanna talk about, and it can displce more than just が. For example: パンを食べた。you could gramatically say パンは食べた and the context dictates that it displaced a を. With が this is not possible, as が will always mark the grammatical subject of the clause, so the "doer", so が is a "logical" particle that always assumes the same structural function. Now how does that translate to "actually using it" is still not always clear, but it already helps to realize this difference between が being a strictly logical grammatical marker and は as a simple "general topic flag", which is pretty substantial
Yeah, if you speak another language that has a topic-centric word order it is not that difficult to understand what the difference is - but if you don’t, it’s just like teaching a Slavic language speaker how articles work.
You say that "ga" always marks the subject, but the ghibli movie "Umi ga kikoeru" is translated as "I hear the sea", not "the sea hears".
@@JannPoo That is a mediopassive verb with the meaning of “can be heard”, so the subject is what is audible. By nature there’s no way to specify who does the listening. There are lots of languages with similar constructions, even English (although using the normal active verb), see: “I read two books” but “The book reads well”, “I washed my trousers” but “The trousers wash easily”. Or Polish “pisze słowo” (he writes a word) but “jak się pisze slowo” (how is the word spelled?)
@@JannPoo "umi ga kikoeru" is used to express the idea of "i hear the sea", but grammatically translated it doesn't say that, it says "the sea can be/is heard", so the "the sea is doing the action of being heard" and "ga" still marks the subject, as it does everytime. this is exactly what Cure Dollys point is in general: if you use teaching books that translate "umi ga kikoeru" to "i hear the sea", you will really struggle to ever figure out how Japanese actually works. I really recommend you have a look at her channel, and don't get spooked by her strange voice-over voice. She was probably someone severely disabled or ill and had issues speaking so she adopted that online robot persona. But she was surely one of the smartest Japanese teachers here (really kinda in her own league) when it came to understanding structure of Japanese. RIP.
I always love the Japanese learning channels that show the "secret recipe" and learners excitingly saying "oh! Ok! I totally get it now".
ただの日本語学習者です。
「が」は主語(subject)を示す格助詞です。
一方、「は」は副助詞の一つで「…について言えば」のようにある物事を主題(topic)として取り立てて、その物事について事実や判断や意見などの新しい情報を述べる時に使います。基本的には「には」、「では」、「からは」、「までは」という風に格助詞の後につけて使いますが、「が」か「を」の場合は相性が悪いのか、「が」か「を」を落として単語の直後につけるわけですね。
ここでは話せない。(ここで話せない)
私には夢がある。(私に夢がある)
私は山田です。(私が山田です)
難しい言葉は使わないで。(難しい言葉を使わないで)
日本語は
難しい。
topic("as for") + comment
猫は 犬は
好きだけど 好きじゃないです。
contrast between two topics
子供には
無理だ。
contrast, another part 大人にはできる is implied
日本語が難しい。
a thing you feel/felt
雨が降っている。
a thing going on outside
The only saving grace is that native speakers will still understand what you're trying to say. No different tha people who speak english as a second language make mistakes and we understand them
What I've been learning is that が is used to emphasize that the noun is the subject instead of the direct object:
ジョンさんは手紙を書きました, emphasizes how John spent his time.
ジョンさんが手紙を書きました。emphasizes who it was who wrote the letter.
I'm not too 上手 at Japanese though, so I don't know...
@@Gabu_Dono That's what I meant about は、it seems to place the emphasis on the writing of the letter, rather than John
I'm not very good at Japanese, but I think it's helpful in this regard to keep in mind the nature of Japanese society, where people have more clearly defined roles than they do here in America, if that makes sense. When I'm using は、I'm thinking of it as describing an overall situation in which, as you said, other people are doing things while John is writing a letter.
I don't know if that's right or not, that's just what I imagine, 日本語は上手じゃない...
@@Gabu_Dono *per se
@@jamaluddinkhalifa8371 indeed, thank you for pointing out the typo.
@@Gabu_DonoI'm a relatively advanced jp learner and it seems many learners and even teachers not aware of how they work even in general. Topic marker は has two main functions 1) taking something as the topic (without any contrast) like in [A]は好きですか I set a new topic A and the question is 好き or 好きじゃない
2) making contrast, sentences with it have two parts(one part can be separated by 。or omitted), one topic in each of them and you oppose or compare them,but it doesn't have a function of marking the subject, it replaces both を and が (as well as other special particles like も、こそ、さえ、しか) but you add it to case markers に、で、から、まで,so it's just another type of particles you add after case markers,but を and が get replaced.
And even less people are aware that が doesn't have to emphasize anything because it has 2 functions:
1) marking the subject,when it's not the topic but the part of one thing (a thing that happened,a modifier phrase,a reason etc),so as well as 雨が降っている is one thing that is happening, sentences like ジョンさんが手紙を書きました can be used when we say about it as something that happened/will happen/is happening like in news,but not only
2) defining the subject of something that is already known or/and set, it can be like [subject]が[something that is already known about it],but it's also the one you also use with question words like 誰、何、どこ etc
日本語は難しい(と思う) can be as topic+comment/judgement/fact about it
日本語が難しいなあ can be as
one thing you feel
hope it helps.
@@avidlearner312 Yes, I like to translate "Nは” as "As for N", since that most encapsulates both contrastive and topic uses. People often talk of "emphasis", but it's more of a "this is what I'm going to talk about".
However, in order to use は, the noun absolutely *must* be known to both users.
The various uses of が can become quite complex. In addition to the uses you've (correctly) mentioned, が can also mark what might be considered the direct object in sentences with adjectives 私は彼女が羨ましい or 私はすしがほしい or "車が好き” . Usually such adjectives org. came from verbs, hence concept that they mark a subject. Such adjectives often describe hopes, abilities, likes and dislikes.
Unlike は 、が CAN be used to introduce new information, as in 昔々、あるおじいさん *が* 住んでいました。おじいさん *は* とても貧乏でした。（from A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar)
Introducing new feelings and information is, in fact, one of the ways it's used. For instance, if you see that a girl has become angry you can say 彼女が起こった to the change, or if you look to the ocean and say あっ、海がきれい to describe your feelings. I like to use "気分が変わった” as a way to remember this use.
There are various other advanced uses besides.
Because it can be pretty confusing for learners, I like to say "in Japanese we often don't explicitly mention the subject, unless there is a special reason to do so". All of the cases above (incl. the ones you mentioned) are then special cases of it.
There are various models of grammar and there are a number of Japanese authors and scholars who don't even agree that Japanese has a subject. In addition there are also whole academic articles in Japanese dedicated to the differences between は and が, so it isn't always clear cut.
Dogen's acting skills are severely underrated. My man deserves a meatier dramatic role to showcase his chops.
違いの説明が難しいと気づいた時の間が気持ちいいです😂
｢それは私のペンです。｣→急に机の上のペンについて誰のものかを聞かれて答える時。
｢それが私のペンです。｣→ 私のペンは可愛いんだよ！と事前に話していて、そのペンが置いてあった時に答える時。
"a","the"と近しいものを感じます。
また、強調にも使われます。
｢私は世界を旅します。｣→普通の文。特に強調なし。
｢私が世界を旅します。｣→"私"を強調。
｢それは私のペンです。｣→ When you are suddenly asked about a pen on your desk and who it belongs to, and you answer about it.
｢それが私のペンです。｣→ My pen is pretty! and when I talk about it beforehand and answer when that pen is placed on the table.
It feels close to "a" and "the".
It is also used for emphasis.
｢私は世界を旅します。｣→ Ordinary sentence. No special emphasis.
｢私が世界を旅します。｣→ Emphasis on "I"
dogen its so fun to have you pop up on the shorts feed!
は is used to mark the TOPIC of a sentence, が is for the SUBJECT of a sentence. In the case the が is hidden, like 私は日本人だ, the が is hidden like (私は０が日本人だ, where the 0 represents nothing as the subject)
It can be translated as "As for me, (it) is Japanese" where by context (it) is me.
In a sentence like 彼は辛いものが好きだ, it would roughly mean "As for him, spicy things are likeable"
This might be your finest work, Dogen!
いつも面白い動画ありがとう〜😂楽しく見ていま〜す😆👍🏻‼️天才ですね
は emphasizes differences between two or more things, が can be used to emphasize who/what did an action or who/what is being described.
・バラが咲く→「が」の後が特に伝えたいこと
バラがどうする？→咲く
・バラは咲く→「は」の前が特に伝えたいこと
何が咲く？→バラ
・私の名前はるいです→私の名前は何なのか、を伝えたい
・私の名前がるいです→何の名前がるいなのか、を伝えたい(私以外にるいという人が世界にいないみたいに聞こえる)
正直どちらを使っていても意味は分かるのであまり心配しないでください。
honestly even after taking so many years of test , i am still confused. They say using ha after a topic is placing the emphasis on the topic itself and if you use ga , its more on the emphasis on the back. Then they have explicit rule like if you are describing something or you are not sure , you have to use ga but then when you state facts you kind of can use ha .
its just hagahaga situation with this i dun even know i am right or wrong with the above
Easy you use は when you don't know which grammatical particle to use.
They can mean different things and some sentences don’t make sense with は but do with が. For example 何が？ makes sense but 何は? doesn’t, if I remember correctly. I don’t think I’ve fully got it down but Tae Kim’s grammar guide helped quite a bit for me.
I know this is going to sound awful but at a certain point it's just a feeling
@@Imago27292 the funniest thing is when I speak to native, they don’t seem to really care what you use? LUL
I think the problem is that you haven't read a right explanation...
You can't learn は・が particles strictly by their definitions, you have to learn them based on their appearance in the structure of the sentence.
I like that the subs do not even come close to what he's actually saying
I think in this context it translates quite efficiently, it's hard to translate word-for-word in this case
Makes sense if you've encountered this exact issue along with the usual "explanation" ("it's for emphasis!")
The usage is so muddied, and it's even worse since spoken / written -also- differ
@@lol_123__ Sure, it's just amusing and even helps prove the point.
There is also dé and de 得 的 the first is um I don’t really know but the second is a possessive like wo de gou my dog if it was wo gou it would be “me dog” or “I dog”
Thanks for this helpful piece of information! I hope more people see this as well
I explained this to my friend taking Japanese that whenever you’re translating “が” just imagine there’s as additional “the one that” in the sentence, like “I did it” vs. “I was the one that did it,” it doesn’t work all the time but it was the best way I could explain it
FWIW, when I learned Japanese back in college in rural Pennsylvania in the late '90s (the best place to learn Japanese, clearly!), the textbook we were using would regularly translate は as "(at least)." Which sounds like absolute nonsense, and... kind of is... but I'll be darned if that line of thinking hasn't actually served me well all this time! It weirdly kind of works to differentiate when to use は versus が. Basically, if you can't fit "at least" into the sentence there, then you're going to want to use が -- e.g. "I, at least, really love dogs." 私は犬が大好きです。
You could also think of it as "for one" rather than "at least," e.g. "I, for one, really love dogs."
It's a very strange, quirky way of teaching は, as most things in that textbook were, but seriously... for as weird a mnemonic-esque device as that may be, it genuinely does help determine which particle to use on the fly with a surprisingly high success rate.
インターネットで調べたら、はを使うと後が強調されるのに対して、がを使うとまえがポイントです
I remember when in class we were talking about the difference about using 'wa' and 'ga'. My teacher said that his friend took this topic for his thesis and took weeks (or was it months) to finish. My friend just simplify it by saying just so we won't use double ''wa'' in a sentence. I don't know if that made sense but my teacher agreed and feel pity for his friend that the thesis that took months to finish is solved in 5 minutes. (On other notes, this was a light conversation.)
This makes me cry everytime
Guuuuuys. It's pretty easy. Look at this
水面に映る自分が言った
And
水面に映る自分は言った
What's the difference? Simple. The first one shows, that the "Me, who descended in the sea had said", that's the point of が, while the second is "Me, who descended in the sea is said". At least that's how I differ them. が for action, は for explanation/description
が gives a strong connection between subject and verb/adjective that they feel like a combined word. It's similar to the pattern (adj)-(n)ed or (n)-(v)ed in English, like bare-footed. は puts distance away from the verb/adjective and introduces a point of reference for the next statement. It's like saying "as for __" or "with reference to __". When combined, it can sound awkward when you translate it literally into English because English doesn't really have these concepts. For example, a verbose translation of "私(わたし)は日本語(にほんご)がわかる" would be "We're going to talk about me now: I am Japanese-abled," or "With reference to me: Japanese is clear," but a simpler translation would be "I understand Japanese."
先生「誰が窓ガラスを割りましたか？」
A「田中君が割りました。」
B「田中君はなぜ落ち込んでいるの？」
C「田中君は窓ガラスを割って先生に怒られたからです」
「〇〇が」は〇〇の部分が重要で、「は」は〇〇について説明するイメージです。
You don’t know how much I need these videos. To know someone feels my pain!
「はがない」こと『僕「は」友達「が」少ない』で哲学出来そうだな
Watch cure dollys explanation because shes the best teacher ive found so far. She explains japanese sentence structure as a train が marks the subject and is the engine while は marks the topic and is a flag.
は is more of an equivalent of "as for me" so
私はアメリカじんです will directly translate to "as for me, i am American"
But if you use が then "as for me" wouldn't be in the sentence.
Theres a joke in japan where a Japanese learner is taking someones order and asks what they'd like to eat. The first person orders something and then the learner asks the second person.That person would respond with something like "私はすしだ” (as for me, I'd like sushi). The learner would understand that as "i am sushi" and be confused because of the ways apps and such teach Japanese.
I hope this is helpful T-T
は gives emphasis to the words after it, が gives emphasis before it and is used when there is new information or questions. tokini andy has a video about は and が
The emphasis changes depending on what is used. A good example isこれがりんごですvs これはりんごです。 The difference is THAT is an apple vs that is an APPLE. The first sentence would be for answering the question “which one is an apple” (the apple isn’t the important information for the listener and it can be assumed you are talking about the apple so you could drop it and say “that one”). Where the second one is the answer to “what is that” (you both know “that” is what your referring too but the important information is apple so it can be shorted to “an apple” and it still answers the question.
TLDR が stresses the topic as important or new information to listener. は stresses information about topic or shows topic change.
An easy way to tell which to use is if the English translation can drop the subject or object (for ga you can drop the object and for ha you can drop that topic/subject). Other than that, use either.
It's always the few-seconds-long bangers XD
😂 Always so funny
Still looking up for the difference
I KNEW IT i honestly dont know the difference and i use what i feel is right
I understood every word of this!
は is topic marking particle
が is subject marking particle and emphasis between a few choices.
Such as tea, coffee and chocolate.
Chocolate が suki.
To people still worried by that, the best advice I can give you is, do not worry about it. Rules in this case do not matter, it is something that will come naturally to you as you get better at the language.
The best analogy I can give is "a" vs "an", a clear rule exists, but you don't have to stop think about it every time you need to use one or other.
なんだろうね、「は」や「が」の後に来る文章によって変わるかもしれない?「は」の後に肯定的な表現が続いてたら、限定的に聞こえるけど、「は」の後に否定的な表現が続いてたら強調の意味はない感じがするかも?普通の文という感じを受ける。
「が」はその逆で、肯定的な表現が続いてたら普通の文という感じに聞こえて、否定的な表現が続いてたら限定的な感じ😮
例:「これはいいよ」(限定的)「これがいいよ」(普通)
「これは変だよ」(普通)「これが変だよ」(限定的)
1意見😢例外だらけです🤣
I don’t understand why this is so difficult for some people. Understanding the difference between wa and ga is easy. Wa looks like this わ and ga looks like this が. Hope this helps!
Sounds* but yeah 🤓
@@ragerteenager968 I wouldn’t know, I don’t speak Chinese.
That's not even the right "wa" for this context. You see, わ is wa, but don't forget that は is wa.
@@Sanguimaru nah, that’s ha
@@Sanguimaru Are you sure you aren’t thinking of ワ？
It's very easy. "は" is the "contrastive" particle: it's used to contrast a notion against another (explicit or implicit). "が is the "selective" particle: its job is to highlight a notion from out of a set (explicit or implied). But sometimes the nuances in meaning are so small in context as to be trivial, and in many cases they become interchangeable, especially when people cease to care about them. A bit like the nuances of using the various past tenses in English: simple past, present and past perfect. (Did, have done, had done). I don't always bother to use them all "properly" when speaking or writing.
My professor, who is a native and was an interpreter prior to being a teacher, told us this...wa is the subject marker and ga is the topic marker 😂
Yes my friend trust me they even make book that's have the same page with dictionary just for explain what the diference but for me have the experience of learning at the end you will know what the diference just by feeling
I once told a JP streamer
ドーナツはいいです (the donut is ok)
But got corrected by them specifically to
ドーナツがいいです
I still have no idea why
Not a native speaker, not fluent, so please take this with a heaped tablespoon of salt, BUT
I do seem to remember someone saying that it's a bit unusual to use は with an adjective in the way you did. Your first sentence would mean something like "the doughnut is good, but all the other things are bad", with the emphasis being on the contrast between the doughnut and everything else. So, like, その犬は大きい would mean "that dog is the big one, the other ones are small".
As far as I've noticed, this particular quirk is specific to adjectives. It's the only scenario I've seen where the vibe of は (usually puts the previous noun in the background) and が (usually puts the previous noun in the foreground) are sort of backwards. Just something you've got to learn, I guess.
If I'm wrong about this, please can someone correct me!
が is used to mark the doer or subject
like "Watashi GA, Amerikajin da.."
I am an American.
は can be used when saying "As for me, i am an american..." which is WatashiWA amerikajin da.
or "as for the ball,..", "BooruWA..."
The way i"ve understood it so far while learning is that が is used for secondary subjects in a sentence and は is reserved for primary subjects. If a sentence only has one subject but uses が then that means there is an implied primary subject. So for instance, "これが好きです"(I like this) the secondary subject is what これ(this) refers to and the implied primary subject would be the first person pronoun that is omitted for brevities sake: 私、僕、俺 (all different ways to say "I"). So another way to say the sentence to include both subjects would be 私はこれが好きです。
😮
That’s correct but I think that’s just the main usage, I know が can also be used to call attention to the subject as well for example, if I wanted to ask, who ate the cake? (誰ケーキを食べた？), if you said, 弟はそのケーキを食べた, then that’s like, as for my younger brother, he ate that cake, but if you said 弟がそのケーキを食べた, then that calls attention to the subject saying, *my younger brother* ate that cake. I don’t know if that makes sense and I’m still learning too but I’ve seen it used this way as well.
@@oliviaakonzee8011that's the second usage of が, it's used to define the subject of the already known info, but the already know info can be used as the topic so you can rephrase it with は:
誰がケーキを食べた?→
ケーキを食べたのは誰?
You're partly right,but actually は is just another type of particles which is used to highlight/put a special focus/empathize (like さえ、も、こそ、しか). It marks a word as the topic/gives it a special place in a sentence/clause and it should be added to case particles like に+は、で+は、から+は、まで+は but it replaces both が and を.
First you gotta know how Japanese works. But once you do, it's like this:
は＝is
が＝the one that is
青いのは好き I do like blue ones
青いのが好き Blue ones are the ones that I like
空は赤い！Skies are (normally) red!
空が赤い！The sky is (the things that is) red (and it's not normal)!
痛い！ It hurts!
何が？ What (is the thing that) [hurts (implied since がis used)]?
心が。。。My heart (is the thing that [hurts])
弟は来る little brother is coming (but didn't say anyone else is coming)
弟が来る little brother is (the one who is) coming.
(as a response to "who is the one that is coming?")
In this way Japanese people differentiate between saying は something is, and が something is the thing that is doing/being.
I was fussed about this for about 1 minute. After that I realized that messing it up will never cause trouble in communication, so I moved on to use my time on more important matters... also if possible drop the particles as much as you can 😂
up to you to stay in low level
@@toyoashihara6242 i suppose there is a distinct difference between "low level" and "having some quirks in your speech" 😂🤦🏼♂️🤦🏼♂️
は operates at the level of discourse rather than the more grammatical level of the sentence. It marks what is being talked about at the present time as the "topic" but not necessarily the "(grammatical) subject".
It can hold its influence within the discourse over multiple sentences/clauses, and only changes when there is a context shift (either overtly or implicitly).
Due to its nature, marking the topic of conversation, it very often does mark the subject of a given sentence or clause, and thus a lot of foreign learners (and a surprising number of Japanese natives) can mistake it for a subject marker. It is not however.
が is a straight subject marker. It operates within the bounds of one specific clause or sentence, and once that sentence is over, it must be reiterated (or more often, marked with は to turn it into a new discourse topic) in order to have a function within subsequent sentences.
は, functioning above the level of sentence mechanics, typically hides another particle that would otherwise do the work within the sentence grammar were は not to be there.
eg. 像は鼻が長い。> 像の鼻が長い。
私は子供が三人いる。> 私に子供が三人いる。
While the above sentences are translated into English so that the は marked nouns are the subject, in Japanese they are just complements within the sentence serving to further expand on the predicate. In both sentences above, the noun marked with が is the subject, though not the topic.
Hopefully that makes sense of the respective functions of these two particles for people who are still mystified by them.
I assume it could just be explained the same as the difference between the words "a" and "an"
where "an" is basically just used when the word "a" rolls off the tongue weird( in this situation, when the word after it starts with a vowel)
it comes down to the little known philosophy in japan, called バイブ
I was told that one marks the subject and the other marks the topic. It's just that, y'know... a subject can be a topic, and vice versa. So the advice I got was just say whichever one feels right, talk fast, and nobody will notice you got it wrong.
I had been listening to the short for a few minutes, then I read the subtitles xD hadn't realized
somehow this video is enough to make you understand the difference
Vibe. It's all vibe for me at this point. If someone ask me I'm just going to say 「はがんない」
What I learned is that は is used for a bigger subject and が is for smaller one. And I have no idea how that works.
特定の事を言う時とか、その次に来る言葉を強調したい時に「が」を使うと思ってた。
他の言語もそうだけど、ネイティブは意識せずに使い分けてると思う。ネイティブじゃない人はもう勉強するしかない。それが辛いところ。
I was taught は is used for subjects of a sentence, and が is used for objects being acted upon, unless used at the end of a sentence where it is used as a transition to an explanation that the first part of the compound sentence needs for clarity...
There are cases where は is used for objects and が acting as an object is more typical of cases like 好きです or 分かる (and even then, that's more or less debateable).
For those wondering the correct one to use there is は
Use wa when your subject is the answer to a question
どこ出身ですか where are you from?
私は日本人です I am japanese
Use ga when your object is the answer to the question
ここの誰が日本人ですかwho here is japanese?
私が日本人です I am japanese (emphasis on I)
something known は something unknown
something unknown が something known
“は”は目的、“が”は主格を重要視してるイメージだった
Best lesson ever
I think wa is used generally when what comes before wa is subject. ga might be when what comes before ga is object.
No, を is the object marker
は is the topic marker which can be the object as much as the subject, が only acts as an object (from an English view) in cases like 好きです or 分かる.
The way I've personally experienced it, is that there is no good explanation that will always work - it's something that just has to be picked up via tons of repeated input...
I think this is like 는 and 가... 😢
Funny, but really, it's not complicated at all, it's just an issue of traditional academia:
が connects 主語 (the doer) to 述語 (what the doer does / is, etc). That's it.
は is a completely different particle that merely marks the topic.
The issues stem from:
1. が can be omitted (so-called Øが)
2. が can be used for emphasis
3. Usage of Western grammar terminology for Eastern languages (such as calling 主語 a subject)
Also が pushes the attention back (to the 主語) while は pushes it forward.
When you stop thinking of these two as related it stops being confusing.
The problem is that traditional learning sources fail to present it properly, to the point of omitting the topic or even being just wrong.
There are ways to think about it that will work in the majority of cases. But in general I think it's just something you pick up. That being said it's not like anyone corrects my use of は and が so it's not like I'd realise if I chose one that sounds unnatural.
は is used when "I'm going to talk about it, and I don't care anything other."
が is used when "It is the only one that is so, and nothing other here is same as it."
彼"は"先生です。
He is a teacher. (I'm talking about just him, so there may be other teachers.)
彼"が"先生です。
He is the teacher. (It's like you were looking for or waiting for the teacher, and you finally found him.)
が marks subject. は marks topic (in a distinguished way). も marks topic (in an inclusive way). That's it. That's all the rules. Sometimes a subject is the topic, sometimes its not. But with this, everything makes sense.
As someone who has been self studying Japanese for 2 years, it was one of the hardest problems to crack, but over time, it just started making more sense, probably because I had experience with enough example sentences and didn’t have to use artificial understanding to put sentences together, I just happened to know deep inside. I suppose it’s just a practice/do it thing, not a technically understand it and do it thing.
I think as a korean speaker, the difference is very intuitively understood because we have a very similar thing between 은/는 and 가.
「は」と「が」の違いは日本人でもわかりません。
直感です！！
Yeah, that clears it up for me 😆
Easy way to understand the difference.
Wa is for placing the emphases after the wa. Ga is for placing the emphasis before the ga.
For example, watashi wa ringo wo tabemasu. Means i ate the APPLE. The apple is the important information or new information in the sentence.
But if we know someone ate the apple, and you wanna clarify you ate the apple. Watashi ga ringo wo tabemasu. Means *I* ate the apple.
Emphasis on the I
To my understanding the differences of those two sentences is that "watashi wa ringo wo tabemasu" means I'm eating an apple but someone is else could be eating something else or nothing at all, it's also possible that someone else is also eating an apple I'm just speaking for myself.
While "watashi ga ringo wo tabemasu" means "I'm eating an apple, not you, not him, I'm the one who's eating that".
We Japanese also get confused about when to use articles in English, like when to use 'a/an,' or 'the' or nothing. It's a whole struggle for us too.
fun fact: "a/an" and "the" are also particles. "articles" are just subsets of particles.
"a" and "an" for generic items (e.g any apple), "the" for specific items (e.g the exact apple you are holding)
Nothing is used when it's not a countable thing. You can't have 5 beautys or 7 airs.
"a" for words starting with constant sounds (a umbrella) and "an" for words starting with vowel sounds (an apple). Note that it is sounds not letters, it's "an honour" because honour starts with a vowel sound.
Hope this helps
@@DavidCruickshankthough... You can say "5 beauties", if you're talking about people 🤭
And "5 heirs" is valid and sounds exactly the same as "5 airs" which you can't say 🤔
Not to mention "the air" as in "the air you breathe", and "an air" as in "he had an air about him"
I think English is full of its own confusing grammar hahaha
@@DavidCruickshank no one says "a umbrella". that word starts with a vowel.
also, you misspelled "consonant."
@@nickhafner2518 in this context, "beauty" is used as a noun instead
also, i've never heard anyone ever say "he had an air". either very nonstandard or american
Some times we use Ga to make the mean stronger than Wa.
Watashi wa o da (Just a fact, introduction)
Watashi ga o da (Look me! I'm the king, others are not!)
It's funny, because I read your example in the opposite manner.
は is an exclusive topic marker. It marks one thing and excludes everything else. So if you start with 私は, you're saying "We're talking about ME, and nobody else". I AM the king, nobody else. Only me.
But if you go 私が, you're emphasising the comment that comes after it. That you're the KING. Other people might be Kings too, but you're one for sure.
@@Archangel591 Oh no.....exactly I found such a situation in my memory, like A"Kore taberu?" B"Un!" C"Watasi wa iranai"(B wants to eat, but I don't)
but my saying is also true, for example the My Hero Academia's Almight says "Watashi ga kita" when he cames into the fighters. and it include emotion like a (Strong I came here so don't worry anymore.)
In short, now I can only say...Shit!
That is why I always say that “wa” is used with nouns and “ga” is used with objects…I am not the king (Watashi wa o de wa arimasen)…The king is me (Watashi ga o desu)…or (O wa, Watashi ga desu)…
Yep, thats exactly the same way I was thinking about it!
I feel like it's somewhat like the difference between to and of. Theoretically they're different but in practice they're interchangeable in many scenarios.
The simple answer is that there’s not really any hard rule about when to use one over the other.
That doesn’t mean that they can be used interchangeably, you’re just never going to learn to use them correctly by memorizing rules.
Accept that you will make mistakes in the beginning and move on. You’ll develop a feel for it naturally.
This! Every time I'm stumped.
Cure Dolly explained this very well, she's the only one I've seen thus far that has made it make sense
座布団一枚This is so funny. Both the video and all the comments that completely fail to get it.
some one taught me (unless i imagined it) that が emphasises the thing before while は emphasised the thing after
(i remember it as g comes before w in the alphabet, so it emphasises the before)
example (?)
俺はマリオ i am MARIO!!
いや、俺がマリオ no, *I* am Mario!!
^sorry if that's wrong im still learning
6:58 let’s call the whole thing off 🍅🥔