Particles: the difference between WA and GA
Japanese particles are both a blessing and a curse. They make Japanese grammar simple and direct, almost like a computer language. They always follow the rules because they are the rules. Particles tell us “this word does this” and “this word does this.” However, these little suffixes can cause tremendous headaches for us English-speaking learners because they group meanings together quite differently than our English equivalents (prepositions), or in some cases have no equivalent at all.
Of the lot, wa (は) and ga (が) are almost undoubtedly the most annoying pair of particles to keep straight, no doubt because neither of them has a true English equivalent. They’re probably the most frequently used particles in the language, so you need to learn them early (note: you won’t master them early), but it’s very difficult to find a decent explanation for them even in big bulky text books. And if you want to make your Japanese teacher sweat, just ask them to explain the difference.
I’ve devoted a lot of introspective soul-searching time to thinking about these two little guys, and in this article, I’m going to do my best to shed some new, meaningful light on the difference between は and が.
Traditional wa and ga “explanations”
First, lets do a quick wrap up of the 3 big bread-and-butter responses you’re most likely to get when asking someone about the difference between は and が.
Stock response #1: は is the topic marker and が is the subject marker.
Learner reaction: Well gee, thanks, that clears up everything for me (sarcasm). Aren’t “subject” and “topic” synonyms??
Stock response #2: You just have to get used to it. You’ll figure it out eventually. Don’t worry about it.
Learner reaction: I don’t want to figure it out “eventually,” dammit, I want to know right now!!
Stock response #3: Look at this example and see how は and が changes the meaning!
Learner reaction: Well okay, I get the example, at least, but what happens in this different sentence? You’ve given me a fish without teaching me how to do it myself.
While none of these explanations is inherently wrong or useless (except maybe #2), each fails in its own unique way to really get at the root of our problem. There has to be a better way to explain it. So… you ask, what is the real difference between は and が…?
The real difference
は is the topic marker and が is the subject marker. Wait! Cursors off the back button, please. Hear me out.
There’s a reason you’ve heard this explanation so many times. The problem is just that no one bothers to explain what they mean by topic and what they mean by subject. To learn our Japanese, we first have to have our English on right. Here’s a diagram to illustrate:
- Topic: a non-grammatical context for the whole sentence.
- Subject: a grammatical relationship only to the verb.
See, that’s not so hard, right? By the way, I’ve worded these two definitions very carefully so if you just glanced over them, go back and read them closely, please, because this is very important. Okay? done? Let’s move on, then…
The number one difference is that while a subject has a explicit grammatical role (the thing which does the verb), a topic is just like a big cloud, with no set relationship to what’s actually going on in the sentence; it’s just there, floating around the sentence.
Okay, so that’s all well and good: subject versus topic.
Easy.
Piece of cake.
朝飯前.
Right? Not quite…
Subject and topic are very distinct roles and it’s not difficult to understand their difference. But what is a poor gaijin to do in real life situations? Since we only ever have subjects in English (never topics) it still takes some getting used to before you can accurately distinguish between where we should use one or the other in a real-life situation.
To help start you down the (long) path to mastery of these two terrible particles, here is a deeper look.
The feeling of wa and ga
Consider the sentence: A は B. If we were to turn this sentence to an image, here is what it would look like:
Because は marks a topic–something non-grammatically related to the sentence–you can think of it like a picture frame. The thing は marks surrounds and labels the sentence, but is independent of what goes on inside. は is a good observer.
Then we have the sentence: A が B.
が–in contrast to は–is much more involved in the sentence. It’s almost like a conqueror. It specifically lays its claim on the verb, almost like it’s setting up a border and denying outsiders access.
This difference is why when looking at a picture of several cute girls, a young man might point his finger at one and say:
watashi wa kanojo da ne.
and mean, “I like her.” But he could not say watashi ga kanojo da, which would have to mean “I am her.”
Different situations, different particles
You may have heard the explanation that は gives emphasis to what comes after it, and が to what comes before it. This explanation isn’t correct in and of itself, but it does bring attention to the fact that when we do want to bring attention to the subject (ie. who or what did something), が is the usually the most logical choice.
Another example I’ve come across that for some reason stuck with me is one that likened は to the and が to a/an, apparently because we would use が to introduce new information to a discussion and は when it is repeated. Again, this misses the point (and is completely unreliable as a guideline, by the way), but it highlights a tendency that arises from the difference between subject and topic: topics are better suited for description and explanation, subjects are better for declarations and statements.
One clever example sentence for は and が that I’ve come across is: watashi wa [my name] desu. vs. watashi ga [my name] desu. While these sentences in English both come out as “I am Lloyd.” In Japanese, they answer different questions:
Q: Who are you?
A: watashi wa Lloyd desu.
Q: Who is Lloyd?
A: watashi ga Lloyd desu.
Here’s a similar example I came up with, showing how the question changes when we use an adjectival sentence.
Q: What do you think of Japan?
A: nihon wa omoshiroi desu.
Q: Which country is interesting?
A: nihon ga omoshiroi desu.
And one more, for those of you with Japanese girlfriends/boyfriends.
Q: What do you think of my voice?
A: anata no koe wa kirei desu.
Q: What part of me is beautiful?
A: anata no koe ga kirei desu.
Unless you are asked the proper question specifically, you should always use が in situations like this. The reason is because は frames the sentence around the voice, so your darling might mistakenly think you are implying that other things about them are not beautiful.
…which brings me to the next important point…
“Contrasting” versus “Distinguishing”
It’s often said that は is used for comparing things. But this is not quite as straightforward as you think. For example, why do we say A yori B no hou ga ~, using が? Isn’t this sentence making a comparison? What gives?
は compares the nature of things. Think of it like this: if A は B, then C は D and E は F. Everything is unique. When we make a statement about something with は, the implication is that other things lack that quality, or have a completely different quality. は states what makes something unique: it contrasts one thing from other things.
が compares the degree of things. If A が B, then C might be B too, but not as much as A. が is great for calling out one specific thing from a group of similar things and showing it off: it distinguishes one thing from others.
Now might be a good time to scroll back up to the example sentences and have another look, if you can really pin down the difference in nuance between contrasting and distinguishing, and see how that is related to topic versus subject, then you’re well on your way to knowing how to use these particles.
The removal test, the comma test
Okay, now for my final trick, I’m going to tell you how to actually test whether you should use は or が.
This is tricky. In Japanese, there is rarely ever a sentence that becomes grammatically incorrect if you chose は when you should have said が or vice versa. The incorrectness that arises from misusing these particles is that you convey an unintended meaning.
So how can we possibly make a test that will hold true across different situations? Since は marks a topic, information that–while important–does not have a grammatical role, it is much less central to the message of the sentence than a が marked subject. So try this: take it out altogether.
watashi wa?/ga? kuruma o unten shimashita. (I drove the car.)
What happens to the sentence? Does it:
a) become vague, but still have the core information that we need to convey. (ie. in answer to the question “What did you do?“)
b) completely lose its ability to communicate the information we want. (ie. in answer to the question “Who drove the car?“)
If you answered a, は is probably the particle you’re looking for. On the other hand, if your sentence just became a steaming pile of useless words without it (b), が is probably your best bet. I won’t guarantee that this works in all situations, but give it a try next time you are scratching your head over which particle you should use.
We could do a similar test that works on the same principle, but instead of taking out your problem word, try just marking it with a comma and imagining a pause in the sentence.
watashi, kuruma o unten shimashita. (I, drove the car.)
What happens to the sentence?
a) It doesn’t really seem strange at all.
b) The added pause seems really awkward.
If you answered a, chances are high that you need a は. But if you feel there’s something just not right about the sentence and chose b, I would advise が.
In fact, in real written Japanese, the particle は is often followed by a comma, but が almost never is (note: I’m only talking about が as a subject marker, here, not as a conjunction).
Common uses
I won’t go into too much detail on these, and you should think of them as tendencies rather than fixed rules. Everything depends on the context of the situation and what information you are trying to communicate to your listener, but subjects are better at some things and topics are better at others, and its good for learners to have a general idea which goes with which.
は (Topic)
- Good for contrasting one thing from another, talking about difference in substance.
- Good for relaying factual information, as though you were reading from a text book, encyclopedia or dictionary.
- Good for talking about people’s (including your own) personalities and preferences.
- Good for discussing abstract concepts and philosophical debates.
が (Subject)
- Good for down-to-earth discussion of specific events, plans, things, etc.
- Good for describing specific objects that you can feel and touch.
- Good for “pointing” to one object, pulling it out from a crowd, distinguishing it from others.
- Good for relating a chain of events, telling a narrative.
Summary
To wind up the post, here are two images that I’ve prepared that wrap up the differences between は and が as cleanly and snugly as I could manage. By the way, these summary boxes can also be found on Nihonshock’s new Japanese cheat sheet! Check it out if you haven’t already!
As always, comments are welcome. 
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Posted under Language & Study, Most Popular Posts by Lloyd Vincent31 Responses
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Love what you’re trying to do here, but I think you’ve mixed up your particles in the following:
“Unless you are asked the proper question specifically, you should always use が in situations like this. The reason is because は frames the sentence around the voice, so your darling might mistakenly think you are implying that other things about them are not beautiful.”
Shouldn’t that be は? が in this case limits what is beautiful to just the voice. In other words, other parts are not (necessarily, but by implication) beautiful.
I’ll give this whole thing a closer read some time, but keep up the good work!
by: Nathan, Feb 3rd at 2:35 pm
@Nathan: Thanks for the feedback.
It’s definitely は that causes the implication, not が.
I can see how you would think it’s the other way around, particularly if you consider the questions that go with each sentence.
I tried to go over this in detail in the section on contrasting vs distinguishing that comes right after the example.
It might also help to go back up and look at the box image for subjects and topics: if “koe” is the topic, and “kirei” is put inside of it, its kind of like you’re trapping kirei there. If you make koe a subject instead of a topic, you’ve reduced the sentence to a simple statement about the voice, so there’s no implications about other things.
by: Lloyd Vincent, Feb 3rd at 9:38 pm
Great post! Particles are really tricky to get a hang of for beginners. You did a great job breaking it down. I’ll be sending people your way when they ask me about these questions!
by: Harvey, Feb 4th at 4:12 am
A very helpful explanation here Lloyd. It reiterates some of the core rules for using ‘wa’ and ‘ga’ that you might find in a text book. Yet also sheds light on some of the uses not often covered (or at least no one bothers to explain)
I also like what you’re doing with the pictorial diagrams. Very comprehensive and easy to understand. (sorry for the tautology here :p)
by: Lynden, Feb 4th at 9:45 am
I think you have done a fantastic job with this Lloyd. As you know my Japanese is not terrible, but I’ve always always fallen back on “you’ll get it with time” when people ask me the difference. I’ve never really been able to properly explain the difference even though I’m well aware of what the differences are when I use them myself… But now I can send people here!
…although I do have to say I really think that as much as you cab explain it like this it’s still very much a time thing… After all these years of studying Japanese I still sometimes fail to pick up on nuances caused by the subtle interchange of particles…
Well… awesome post; you’ve done something that a lot of people haven’t been able to do!
…and I totally agree with using “as for” as a translation of は!
by: DAZ-Y3, Feb 5th at 7:44 pm
@Harvey : Thanks! Hopefully this blog will save you some explaining time.
@Lynden : Thanks, but if I remember correctly, my text book had no explanation at all for these particles…
@DAZ-Y3 : Knowing something and being able to explain it are definitely not the same thing. I learned that during my short time as an 英会話 teacher.
And you’re right, explanation alone will not give a student mastery of these particles. Learners need to be observant of the differences and also do a lot of trial and error to get it; hopefully this post provides them with the information they need in order to do that.
by: Lloyd Vincent, Feb 5th at 10:12 pm
Wow it never occurred to me that “topic-maker” and “subject-maker” are two different things. I think I just elevated in my understanding… Thank you
And jut a side question, are you planing on doing the difference between に and で? My classmates and I can never get when to use them correctly…for example why is it 日本に住んでいます and not 日本で住んでいます? :/
by: Rina, Feb 11th at 11:30 pm
@Rina: Glad I could help!
に and で would also be a useful article, wouldn’t it? I have actually thought about making it.
hmm… Okay, I’ll try to put it together, but it probably won’t be anytime soon. (After all, it took me 2 months to put this は vs が information together, and I’ve got some other articles I want to work on first…)
by: Lloyd Vincent, Feb 13th at 5:16 am
@Rina’s comment: I’d also like to see へ thrown in there.
I’d always been taught that when へ／に can be used, they are interchangeable with a slight difference in nuance. However, I had to wait 5 years to learn you can’t use に when modifying a noun (as in, you have to say 東京への電車)
Maybe a に/へ article would be easier to tackle than に/で. Or maybe you could have one monster で/に/へ article.
by: Noli, Feb 16th at 11:32 pm
Reading all this I’m so glad my teachers in the past year put so much emphasis on は and が. Most differences where explained clearly and at an early stage. And every time someone used one where the other would be expected, they explained why, and how the meaning changes.
私はコーラです as an answer to who ordered what is a frequently used example here. (of course not meaning “I am cola” but “As for me, it is cola”, i.e. “I ordered cola”)
I also learned the difference can sometimes be a bit similar to the difference between “a” and “the” in English.
As in 犬は庭にいます vs. 庭に犬がいます. The は in the first sentence suggests the listener knows which dog the speaker is talking about (“as for the dog”), while the が suggests this is not known. So the first one would be “the dog is in the garden”, while the second is “there is a dog in the garden”. This comparison was an eyeopener for me.
Of course, like the car driving example, the first sentence would be an answer to the question “where is the dog” and the second to “what’s in the garden”.
Just throwing some more examples out there in hopes they will help others like they helped me.
by: SpencervdM, May 16th at 11:09 am
@SpencervdM: Thanks for the “dog in the garden” example, that’s a really good one.
And it’s good that you’ve got teachers who really made an effort to teach the difference. Most teachers I’ve ever had just took the “you’ll get it eventually” approach. :-/
by: Lloyd Vincent, May 16th at 1:14 pm
I really like how you’ve taken a couple of different approaches to the explanation of this one Lloyd.
by: Brett, Jun 1st at 5:30 am
This is a great explanation of something I find tricky to get my head around. Taking the time to point out the difference between a “topic” and a “subject” is something that most texts skirt around but it really is vital to getting a grasp of the difference. Many thanks!
by: Steven, Jun 24th at 11:55 pm
Thanks Lloyd great help in understanding the difference. My teacher just tells the class that there is no difference because she’s too lazy to get into detail like you did. Thanks alot
by: Ryan, Aug 11th at 8:20 pm
so is the explanation that,
‘wa’ marks emphasizes what comes after it and ‘ga’ what comes before, inccorect ?
i always thought particles marked what came before them, but i’ve seen this explanation many times
by: missy, Nov 10th at 8:02 pm
@missy That explanation isn’t really what I would call incorrect, it’s inadequate.
You’re right, particles are attached to what comes before them. That particular explanation is talking about overall sentence emphasis, not the grammatical usage of the particles.
by: Lloyd Vincent, Nov 11th at 6:48 pm
its really detailed article but while you are trying hard to establish “this should be は this shoudl be が”, you dont give the real nuance between the 2.
The real difficulty for foreigners is that there is not 1 right and 1 wrong all the time but just a nuance, and sometimes very small nuance (sometimes same meaning, almost)
so its good but you’re missing the point which is : particles are not grammar rules (this and this=that, which is very scientific approach) but nuances.
by: toda, Nov 12th at 5:40 pm
Whilst I appreciate you have taken the time and effort to do this, I’m still somewhat confused. Namely, your example たなかさんがおかねおもっています.
Does the use of が not emphasize that Tanaka is the one who has the money? For example, he is part of a group of people and the question is “who out of all the group is the one who has the money?” the answer to which would be “TANAKA is the one has the money”.
What I do not understand is how having が in one sentence means that he has the money with him right now, I assume with the emphasis being on the RIGHT NOW as opposed to the possessor of the money, but that は would mean he simply has money. Both use the object particle を so perhaps I’m misunderstanding something about object particles? I don’t know. I’m not a native speaker of English so perhaps this is why lol.
Might you be able to clear this up for me?
by: SN, Nov 19th at 4:16 am
I get that it helps to ask yourself what question a sentence is in answer to in order to figure out if it’s “wa” or “ga”, but what if the sentence is itself a question? E.g., say you’re in a restaurant and you want to ask “Do you have coffee?” What are the different implications of “Koohii-wa arimasu-ka?” vs “Koohii-ga arimasu-ka?” The first just sounds nicer, but what is it about each particle that is making those implications?
by: Timu, Nov 27th at 11:13 am
Listo! Me costó trabajo traducirlo al español, pero ya lo entendí. Gracias, chau.
by: Algún cybernauta cualquiera, Dec 9th at 1:19 pm
This is a fantastic resource! I still don’t understand entirely but I’m a lot closer than I was.
I love how you point out the silliness of the typical 3 responses.
One thing that made this a bit harder to read than it could have been was the use of romaji (and kana). It’s much easier for me to read real Japanese.
Perhaps the logic is that anyone who’s learned the 常用漢字 has already mastered は/が, but I assure you this is not the case.
by: Alfonse, Dec 16th at 4:41 am
@Rina and Noli,
The difference between に and で is very simple. で (in this context, I don’t mean for other things like in the usage 一人で), is where an ACTION takes place, for e.g. 日本で生まれました or 東京で買い物に行きました。
I was born in Japan (ACTION) or I went shopping in Japan (ACTION)
にdescribes the direction of something or where something or someone exists/lives. 買い物に行きます or 東京に住んでいます. I go shopping or I live in Tokyo, I exist in Tokyo. If you want to say you DID something in Tokyo then you would use 東京で—-
As for the difference between にand へ、You can replace へwith に but you can’t always replace に with へ。 The reason for this is because while both suggest direction, にimplies a clear direction and end location while へis more vague, in the general direction of something. Also, にcan be use when you go somewhere with a PURPOSE while へis more vague.
For example, 映画館（えいがかん）に行きます
映画館へ行きます。
I go to the movie theatre. Both へand に state the DIRECTION you are moving in, i.e. where you are going so both can be used in this situation – there is no purpose here, you may be going to watch a movie there or you might be going to meet a friend at the theatre location to go have dinner elsewhere.
If you wanted to give PURPOSE, you would say: 映画を見に行きます。 I go to see a movie/I will go see a movie. The に in this instance cannot be replace by へ because this sentence states a PURPOSE, not a direction.
The same can be said for the previous example I gave above. 東京で買い物に行きます。 This sentence states your PURPOSE, the thing you will be doing/do when you are in Tokyo. So the ACTION takes place in Tokyo(で）and the PURPOSE of your movements/direction is to go shopping (に).
This is just a simple explanation of the particles で、に、and へ, and doesn’t got into the depth of what で can do in other situations, but I hope it helps when you’re trying to distinguish between the three.
Good luck with your studies!
by: ナンシー, Dec 17th at 1:55 pm
Sorry the above second paragraph should also have the example 東京にいる I exist in Tokyo. You could also say something like 私の家は東京にあります。My house is in Tokyo, my house exists in Tokyo.
You can’t use で here because your house existing is not an action, the same goes for you living in Tokyo and you existing in Tokyo, they are not considered to be ACTIONS.
by: ナンシー, Dec 17th at 2:02 pm
I am starting to wonder if Ga can be translated loosely into meaning “is/am the one”. For example -> Kinoo wa Watashi ga byooki deshita. <- Speaking of yesterday, I was the one sick. I think this definition of "is the one" may help beginners like me.
by: jamal, Mar 3rd at 9:50 am
I got a headache looking at this. But this is most likely why I keep seeing that は and が are dependent on context. Because it really is.
by: Jake, Mar 27th at 5:43 pm
you have the BEST SITE EVER!!! i’m learning Japanese using the internet. you rock!
by: Bahare, May 13th at 10:40 pm
Thank you so much for this! I’ve been trying to understand the difference between these particles and this helped greatly!
by: Frances, Jun 14th at 5:44 am
I wish there was a pdf version. n_n
by: Anonymous, Jun 25th at 12:16 pm
Dear Nihonshock,
can you give me further informations about particle が , the last meaning, that is, “but” or “despite”?
Thanks
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that’s how industry works, isn’t it?
dohohoho~~
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by: kyogokudo, Sep 20th at 12:19 pm