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| INTRODUCTION |
| Jessi: Tell Them How You Really Feel with Japanese Particles Wa and Ga! |
| Naomi: なおみです。(Naomi desu.) |
| Jessi: Jessi here. In the last lesson, we learned particles and conjunctions that are used for giving an excuse. |
| Naomi: For example, 風邪で学校を休んだ。(Kaze de gakkō o yasunda.) |
| Jessi: “I didn't go to school, because I had a cold.” |
| Naomi: その店は安いから人気がある。(Sono mise wa yasui kara ninki ga aru.) |
| Jessi: “The store is popular because it’s inexpensive.” So what particles are we covering in this lesson? |
| Naomi: In this lesson we’ll be comparing more uses of は (wa) and が (ga). |
| Jessi: Oh,that’s good to hear. Because は (wa) and が (ga) are really tough. |
| Naomi: そう、難しいですよね。(Sō, muzukashii desu yo ne.) |
| Jessi: Right. So it’s good that we get more practice! And the dialogue is between a couple of students, right? |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) Right. ひろみさんとかおるさんです。(Hiromi-san to Kaoru-san desu.) |
| Jessi: Hiromi and Kaoru. Where does this conversation take place? |
| Naomi: 学校。(Gakkō.) |
| Jessi: At school. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| かおる:テストどうだった？(Tesuto dō datta?) |
| ひろみ:うーん。今日のテストは問題が簡単だった。(Ūn. Kyō no tesuto wa mondai ga kantan datta.) |
| かおる:ひろみは、頭がいいなぁ。(Hiromi wa, atama ga ii nā.) |
| : ひろみは、いつも何時間勉強するの？(Hiromi wa, itsumo nan-jikan benkyō suru no?) |
| ひろみ:うーん。あれ？顔があかいよ。どうしたの？(Ūn. Are? Kao ga akai yo. Dō shita no?) |
| かおる:え？そう？。。。なんだか、お腹が痛いんだよね。(E? Sō? … Nan da ka, onaka ga itai n da yo ne.) |
| (バターン）(batān) |
| ひろみ:佐藤先生！大変！かおるが倒れた。(Satō-sensei! Taihen! Kaoru ga taoreta.) |
| もう一度お願いします。今度はゆっくりお願いします。(Mō ichi-do onegai shimasu. Kondo wa yukkuri onegai shimasu.) |
| かおる:テストどうだった？(Tesuto dō datta?) |
| ひろみ:うーん。今日のテストは問題が簡単だった。(Ūn. Kyō no tesuto wa mondai ga kantan datta.) |
| かおる:ひろみは、頭がいいなぁ。(Hiromi wa, atama ga ii nā.) |
| : ひろみは、いつも何時間勉強するの？(Hiromi wa, itsumo nan-jikan benkyō suru no?) |
| ひろみ:うーん。あれ？顔があかいよ。どうしたの？(Ūn. Are? Kao ga akai yo. Dō shita no?) |
| かおる:え？そう？。。。なんだか、お腹が痛いんだよね。(E? Sō? … Nan da ka, onaka ga itai n da yo ne.) |
| (バターン）(batān) |
| ひろみ:佐藤先生！大変！かおるが倒れた。(Satō-sensei! Taihen! Kaoru ga taoreta.) |
| 今度は英語が入ります。(Kondo wa Eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| かおる:テストどうだった？(Tesuto dō datta?) |
| Jessi: How was the test? |
| ひろみ:うーん。今日のテストは問題が簡単だった。(Ūn. Kyō no tesuto wa mondai ga kantan datta.) |
| Jessi: Hmm...the questions on today's test were easy. |
| かおる:ひろみは、頭がいいなぁ。(Hiromi wa, atama ga ii nā.) |
| Jessi: Hiromi, you're smart. |
| : ひろみは、いつも何時間勉強するの？(Hiromi wa, itsumo nan-jikan benkyō suru no?) |
| Jessi: How many hours do you always study? |
| ひろみ:うーん。あれ？顔があかいよ。どうしたの？(Ūn. Are? Kao ga akai yo. Dō shita no?) |
| Jessi: Hmm...huh? Your face is red. What happens? |
| かおる:え？そう？。。。なんだか、お腹が痛いんだよね。(E? Sō? … Nan da ka, onaka ga itai n da yo ne.) |
| Jessi: Huh? Really? My stomach kind of hurts. |
| (バターン）(batān) |
| Jessi(thud) |
| ひろみ:佐藤先生！大変！かおるが倒れた。(Satō-sensei! Taihen! Kaoru ga taoreta.) |
| Jessi: Ms. Sato! Help! Kaoru collapsed! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Jessi: So one of the girls collapsed? |
| Naomi: そう、そうみたいですね。倒れたみたいですね。(Sō, sō mitai desu ne. Taoreta mitai desu ne.) That’s what it looks like. |
| Jessi: 直美さんはどうですか。体調は良いですか。(Naomi-san wa dō desu ka. Taichō wa ii desu ka.) So, are you in good health? We wouldn’t want the same thing happening to you! |
| Naomi: (笑) うん。悪くないですよ。(Un. Warukunai desu yo.) Not bad actually. |
| あ、でも、花粉症があります。(A, demo, kafunshō ga arimasu.) |
| Jessi: Oh, you have hay fever? |
| Naomi: 鼻がかゆくて、目がかゆくて、大変ですね。(Hana ga kayukute, me ga kayukute, taihen desu ne.) |
| Jessi: So your nose and eyes get itchy in the spring when hay fever strikes. |
| Naomi: 春はそうですね。ジェシーさん、アレルギーがありますか。(Haru wa sō desu ne. Jeshī-san, arerugī ga arimasu ka.) Do you have any allergies? |
| Jessi: I don’t, actually! |
| Naomi: よかったね。(Yokatta ne.) |
| Jessi: Yeah, maybe I’m just lucky. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Jessi: In this lesson, we’ll be comparing more uses of は (wa) and が (ga). |
| First of all, let’s introduce one of the most common sentence structures in Japanese grammar. |
| Naomi: Noun1 は (wa) Noun2 が (ga) adjective… Right. |
| Jessi: So it explains a little bit.The second noun is part of the first noun, and the adjective describes the second noun. |
| Naomi: For this topic, we highly recommend that you read the lesson notes while you listen. |
| Jessi First, let’s listen to a sample sentence. |
| Naomi: 私は頭が痛い。(Watashi wa atama ga itai.) |
| Jessi: Literally, this means “As for me, head is painful.” In natural English it means “I have a headache.” So here, the topic is a person, “I”; the second noun is “head”, and then the adjective after that, 痛い (itai), means “painful”. |
| Naomi: The second noun 頭 (atama), “head”, is part of the first noun, 私 (watashi), “I”. The adjective 痛い (itai) “painful” is describing the state of 頭 (atama). |
| Jessi: Right. So in this construction, [Noun1] は (wa) [Noun2] が (ga) [adjective], the second noun belongs to or is part of the first noun. |
| Naomi: This is often used to describe someone’s physical state or attributes, such as “I have a headache” or “she has long hair”. |
| Jessi: How would you say “she has long hair” then? |
| Naomi: Uh, OK. “She” is 彼女 (kanojo). “Hair” is 髪 (kami). “Long” is 長い (nagai). |
| So the hair belongs to her, so 彼女は髪が (kanojo wa kami ga) … and then add the adjective 長い (nagai). |
| All together, 彼女は髪が長い。(Kanojo wa kami ga nagai.) |
| Jessi: So notice that we don’t actually use the verb for “have” in this sentence – just, “As for her, hair is long”, meaning “she has long hair”. |
| Naomi: そうそう。(Sō sō.) Right. |
| OK.Next, we’re going to look at the usage of は (wa) and が (ga) in a negative sentence. |
| Jessi: As you’ve already learned in previous lessons, が (ga) comes before certain verbs or adjectives. But when answering questions, or when those verbs or adjectives are in the negative form, the が (ga) is usually replaced with は (wa). |
| Naomi: It sounds really complicated. （笑） |
| Jessi: Right, because now the rules are kind of getting bended hear! |
| Naomi: うん、ごめんなさいね！(Un, gomen nasai ne!) |
| Jessi: If you look at some examples, it’s actually not too bad. Naomi and I are going to read a short passage so please listen for how は (wa) and が (ga) are being used. |
| Naomi: ジェシーさんは、兄弟がいますか。(Jeshī-san wa, kyōdai ga imasu ka.) Jessi, do you have any brothers or sisters? |
| Jessi: いいえ、兄弟はいません。(Iie, kyōdai wa imasen.) No, I don't have any brothers and sisters. |
| Naomi, said 兄弟がいますか。(Kyōdai ga imasu ka.) For the verb います (imasu) you need to mark the person that exists with が (ga), so we say 兄弟がいますか。(Kyōdai ga imasu ka.) |
| Naomi: And Jessi answered 兄弟はいません。(Kyōdai wa imasen.) Notice that she changed が (ga) to は (wa). |
| That’s because いません (imasen) is the negative form. いいえ、兄弟はいません。(Iie, kyōdai wa imasen.) |
| Jessi: Now, let’s do one more example. |
| Naomi: はい。漢字が読めますか。(Hai. Kanji ga yomemasu ka.) Can you read kanji? |
| Jessi: Since 読めます (yomemasu) is talking about one’s ability, the object is marked by the particle が (ga). |
| But if you want to answer “NO” to the question, you would say: |
| Naomi: いいえ、漢字は読めません。(Iie, kanji wa yomemasen.) |
| Jessi: You have to replace が (ga) with は (wa), and say 漢字は読めません。(Kanji wa yomemasen.) |
| Naomi: Does it make sense? I hope it does. |
| Jessi: Make sure to let us know if anything isn’t clear or if you have any questions! |
| Naomi: はい、お願いします！(Hai, onegai shimasu!) |
| Jessi: OK. Lastly, we’re going to introduce a new usage of the particle が (ga). |
| Naomi: Right - が (ga) when it indicates the speaker’s surprise. |
| Jessi: Generally speaking, when something surprising happens, the topic or subject is marked by the particle が (ga). |
| Now, let’s backtrack a little. First, the particle は (wa) indicates a state or event that always takes place. |
| Naomi: For example, ジェシーは、６時に起きる。(Jeshī wa, roku-ji ni okiru.) is “Jessi gets up at six.” But if you replace は (wa) with が (ga), say…ジェシーが、６時に起きた。(Jeshī ga, roku-ji ni okita.) “Jessi got up at 6.” The nuance is a bit different. |
| Jessi: Right, since が (ga) is used to indicate surprise, you can assume that the speaker wasn't expecting Jessi to get up that early. |
| Naomi: そう。(Sō.) (笑）そうなんですね。(Sō nan desu ne.) Like あのジェシーが６時に起きた! (Ano Jeshī ga roku-ji ni okita!) “Wow, Jessi got up at six? THAT Jessi?” (笑) |
| Jessi: Because I never get up that early! |
| Naomi: “I can’t believe this!” みたいな感じ？(mitai na kanji?) |
| Jessi: Right, so you’re showing surprise at that fact. Let’s give you one more example. |
| Naomi: 空は青い。雲は白い。(Sora wa aoi. Kumo wa shiroi.) |
| Jessi: The sky is blue and clouds are white. These are really general statements. But when someone sees a sunset, for example he or she would probably say |
| Naomi: 空が赤い。(Sora ga akai.) ”The sky is red!” |
| Jessi: So here, the speaker saw that the sky was red and expressed his or her surprise by using が (ga). |
| Jessi: In this lesson you learned some more ways to use は (wa) and が (ga). |
| Let’s recap this lesson with a quiz. Naomi-sensei is going to ask you a question in Japanese. Your job is to choose the best response from the choices provided. Here’s the question. |
| Naomi: 兄弟がいますか。(Kyōdai ga imasu ka.) |
| Jessi: The choices are... |
| Naomi: 1. いいえ、兄弟はいません。(Iie, kyōdai wa imasen.) |
| 2. いいえ、兄弟がいません。(Iie, kyōdai ga imasen.) |
| Jessi: Can we hear the question again? |
| Naomi: 兄弟がいますか。(Kyōdai ga imasu ka.) Do you have any brothers or sisters? |
| Jessi: And the answer is? |
| Naomi: 1. いいえ、兄弟はいません。(Iie, kyōdai wa imasen.) No, I don’t have any brothers or sisters. |
| Jessi: So remember, when answering questions, and when certain verbs or adjectives are in the negative form, the object is marked with は (wa). |
| Naomi: Did you get it right? Well, that’s all for this lesson. それじゃあまた。(Sorejā mata.) |
| Jessi: See you next time. |
| DIALOGUE |
| かおる:テストどうだった？(Tesuto dō datta?) |
| ひろみ:うーん。今日のテストは問題が簡単だった。(Ūn. Kyō no tesuto wa mondai ga kantan datta.) |
| かおる:ひろみは、頭がいいなぁ。(Hiromi wa, atama ga ii nā.) |
| : ひろみは、いつも何時間勉強するの？(Hiromi wa, itsumo nan-jikan benkyō suru no?) |
| ひろみ:うーん。あれ？顔があかいよ。どうしたの？(Ūn. Are? Kao ga akai yo. Dō shita no?) |
| かおる:え？そう？。。。なんだか、お腹が痛いんだよね。(E? Sō? … Nan da ka, onaka ga itai n da yo ne.) |
| (バターン）(batān) |
| ひろみ:佐藤先生！大変！かおるが倒れた。(Satō-sensei! Taihen! Kaoru ga taoreta.) |
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