Learn the difference between the Japanese particles wa and ga
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Intro |
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| Michael: What is the difference between the Japanese particles wa (は) and ga (が)? |
| Risa: And how do you know which one to use? |
| Michael: At JapanesePod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Noriko and Karen are drinking tea and having some pastries that Karen made. When deciding which one to have next, Noriko looks at Karen and asks, |
| "Which one is sweet?" |
| Noriko Nagaoka: どれが甘いですか。 (Dore ga amai desu ka.) |
| Dialogue |
| Noriko Nagaoka: どれが甘いですか。 (Dore ga amai desu ka.) |
| Karen Lee: これが甘いです。 (Kore ga amai desu.) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Noriko Nagaoka: どれが甘いですか。 |
| Michael: "Which one is sweet?" |
| Karen Lee: これが甘いです。(Kore ga amai desu.) |
| Michael: "This one is sweet." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In this lesson, you'll learn about the particles |
| Risa: は (wa) |
| Michael: and |
| Risa: が (ga). |
| Michael: Let’s start with the particle |
| Risa: は (wa). |
| Michael: This particle is often referred to as the topic marking particle because it comes after the topic of the sentence and tells the listener what the sentence is about. We can translate it as "as for..." or "speaking of..." in English. For example, |
| Risa: これはきりんです。(Kore wa kirin desu.) |
| Michael: Literally, "as for this, giraffe is." In natural English, we’d say, "This is a giraffe." Next is the particle |
| Risa: が (ga). |
| Michael: This particle is often referred to as the subject marking particle. It can also mark the object for certain verbs and adjectives. |
| Risa: が (ga) is often used with あります (arimasu) and います (imasu), meaning "to have" or "to exist." |
| Michael: Let's look at how it functions in a sentence. |
| Risa: あそこに、コンビニがあります。 (Asoko ni, konbini ga arimasu.) |
| Michael: This means "There's a convenience store over there." Now, let's hear an example where both particles are used. |
| Risa: きりんは首が長い。(Kirin wa kubi ga nagai.) |
| Michael: "Giraffes have long necks." Here, the topic is "giraffes," and the subject is the "necks." It literally means "As for giraffes, they have long necks." This sentence matches the pattern |
| Risa: [Noun 1] は (wa) [Noun 2] が (ga) [adjective]. |
| Michael: This is one of the most common sentence structures in Japanese grammar. Let's hear a couple more examples. |
| Risa: コンビニは、商品が様々です。(Konbini wa, shōhin ga samazama desu.) |
| Michael: This literally means "As for convenience stores, they have various products," but translates as "Convenience stores have a variety of products." |
| Risa: カレンさんは、料理が上手です。(Karen-san wa, ryōri ga jōzu desu.) |
| Michael: This literally means "As for Karen, she is good at cooking," but translates as "Karen is good at cooking." Now, let's find out what the main differences are between the two particles. |
| An easy rule of thumb is that, in a sentence with は (wa), the information following the particle is important. On the contrary, in a sentence with が (ga), the information preceding the particle is important. |
| Let’s take a closer look at the dialogue. Do you remember how Noriko asks "Which one is sweet?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Risa as Noriko Nagaoka: どれが甘いですか。(Dore ga amai desu ka.) |
| Michael: According to the rule we just stated, we understand that the focus of the sentence is the question word |
| Risa: どれ (dore). |
| Michael: In fact, the question about WHICH pastry is sweet is the focus of the sentence. Now, do you remember how Karen says "This one is sweet?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Risa as Karen Lee: これが甘いです。(Kore ga amai desu.) |
| Michael: Again here, according to the rule, we understand that the focus of the sentence is the word meaning "this" |
| Risa: これ (kore). |
| Michael: These examples tell us something more about the particle が (ga). It is often used when indicating something out of a group. In this case, the sweet pastry out of the group of pastries. Now let's consider the same sentence with the particle は (wa) |
| Risa: これは甘いです。 (Kore wa amai desu.) |
| Michael: As opposed to the previous sentence with the particle が (ga), this sentence has the most important information after the particle は (wa), |
| Risa: 甘いです (amai desu) |
| Michael: So the speaker wants to talk about how the pastry tastes "sweet." For example, imagine that Noriko didn't ask Karen which pastry was sweet, but just had one and was surprised to find it tasted really sweet. In such a situation, after eating the sweet pastry, she would very likely say |
| Risa: これは甘いです！ (Kore wa amai desu!) |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, you learned that the particle |
| Risa: が (ga) |
| Michael: is used to mark the subject of a sentence and the speaker wants to emphasize the information before the particle. On the other hand, the particle |
| Risa: は (wa) |
| Michael: follows the topic the speaker wants to talk about, so the most important information comes after the particle. It might sound difficult at first, but the more you practice, the more you'll get used to this difference and use both particles correctly. |
| Review |
| Michael: Let's review. Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then, repeat after the native speaker focusing on pronunciation. |
| Do you remember how Noriko asks "Which one is sweet?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Risa as Noriko Nagaoka: どれが甘いですか。(Dore ga amai desu ka.) |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Risa as Noriko Nagaoka: どれが甘いですか。(Dore ga amai desu ka.) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Risa as Noriko Nagaoka: どれが甘いですか。(Dore ga amai desu ka.) |
| Michael: And do you remember how Karen replies "This one is sweet?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Risa as Karen Lee: これが甘いです。(Kore ga amai desu.) |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Risa as Karen Lee: これが甘いです。(Kore ga amai desu.) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Risa as Karen Lee: これが甘いです。(Kore ga amai desu.) |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them! |
| Risa: またね！ (Mata ne!) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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