notes

  • Japanese sentences always have a subject (「が」) and a topic (「は」), even if they are not always explicitly stated
  • 「は」 versus 「が」 is not about deciding what the topic or subject is (that is already known), but about what aspect to emphasize
  • 「は」 should be used to mark “old” or “known” information
    • ex: “I fed the dog. (Which dog?)” versus “I fed a dog. (Any dog works.)”
  • 「は」 and 「が」 can have different implications
    • ex: 「本を買った。」 (means “I bought a book.” because 「０が」 defaults to “I”)
      • “I” is the subject and the topic
      • neutral statement
    • ex: 「私は本を買った。」
      • 「私」 is the “old” information and 「本を買った」 is the “new” information
      • 「は」 makes a distinction by either defining or changing the topic of conversation
      • 「は」 also implies that the comment on the new topic is different from the comment on the old topic
      • answers the question “What did you do?” (“As for me, I bought a book.)
    • ex: 「私が本を買った。」
      • 「私」 is the “new” information and 「本を買った」 is the “old” information
      • 「が」 emphasizes that “I bought the book.”
      • answers the question “Who bought the book?” (“I bought the book.”)
  • 「は」 and 「が」 can be used to differentiate between generalities and specificities
    • ex: 「花は綺麗だ。」 is more likely to mean flowers in general
    • ex: 「花が綺麗だ。」 is more likely to mean particular flowers
  • ex: 「雨が降っている。」 means “Rain is falling.”
  • ex: 「雨は降っている。」 means “Rain is falling (with an implication that if rain were not the topic, that thing would not be falling).”
  • using 「は」 emphasizes the comment following the topic

    resources

  • youtube