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[edit] Frequently Asked Questions about Japanese

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What is the difference between the particles は and が? Typically, a text book will describe は as the topic marker, and が as the subject marker. This isn't wrong, but English speakers will have a different idea of what that means compared to how Japanese innately understand it. We will first cover the use cases of the particle は as it pertains to a topic marker.

  • Use cases of は

The particle は when used as a topic marker (as opposed to a contrastive marker) is used when both the speaker and hearer know the topic you are referring to. The speaker assumes that the hearer knows what the speaker is referring to. If the hearer doesn't know what you're referring to, then you can't use は. As a topic marker it calls into focus what is said afterward. For example X は Y, X is something about Y, and the focus falls on Y. は can also be used with proper nouns (like America, Mr. Smith) or common nouns like (人 hito - person, 花 hana - flower), or singular objects like sky or sun (空,太陽).

Here are some sample sentences in Japanese with two English translations: natural and accurate.

  • 田中さんは英語を勉強しています

Mr. Tanaka is studying English.
As for Mr. Tanaka, (he is) studying English.

Note: The hearer of this sentence will know who is Mr. Tanaka. Also note the 'as for' construct. Although it makes the English awkward, it has the effect of telling the hearer that you're going to impart information about this topic. Note that the word Tanaka-san is not the subject. The subject is implicit and depends on the context of the situation, though the particle が can be used to mark the subject explicitly in some situations.

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