Comments on: Particles: the difference between WA and GA

By: Kiru

Kiru — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:20:40 +0000

Part of the reason that は and が are so confusing is that there are several uses for each particle.

Most linguists have separated the は usages of explicit topic identification and contrast, since the former requires an anaphoric noun phrase, but the latter does not. (anaphoric noun phrases in English can use ‘the’, others use ‘a/an’).

が also has two slightly different shades of meaning depending on the verb. A stative verb will always cause the ga particle to mean soemthing like “X and X alone, in contrast with everything else”. An active verb also has the possibility of being a plain neutral description.

A more complete explanation is available at http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/22/whats-the-difference-between-wa-%E3%81%AF-and-ga-%E3%81%8C/51#51

By: Nicky

Nicky — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 02:56:07 +0000

Thanks so much for this explanation…totally saved my life during Japanese class. Keep on writing!

By: kyogokudo

kyogokudo — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 03:19:47 +0000

I did so ;D u can get it here: http://www.embedupload.com/?d=7YHUCBQGIL

By: kyogokudo

kyogokudo — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 19:23:09 +0000

Ok, now i’m gonna make a .pdf of all this stuff and sell it over 9k!!!

that’s how industry works, isn’t it?

dohohoho~~

By: Alberto

Alberto — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 09:43:48 +0000

Dear Nihonshock,
can you give me further informations about particle が , the last meaning, that is, “but” or “despite”?
Thanks 　

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 03:16:29 +0000

I wish there was a pdf version. n_n

By: Frances

Frances — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 20:44:50 +0000

Thank you so much for this! I’ve been trying to understand the difference between these particles and this helped greatly!

By: Bahare

Bahare — Fri, 13 May 2011 13:40:43 +0000

you have the BEST SITE EVER!!! i’m learning Japanese using the internet. you rock!

By: Jake

Jake — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 08:43:18 +0000

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: jamal

jamal — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:50:05 +0000

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.