Particles: the difference between WA and GA
UPDATE AUGUST 5, 2012: It’s been two and a half years since I originally wrote this post, and thanks to the many helpful comments I was able to go back and polish things a bit. The content of the article has not really changed, but I think the wording is a little clearer now. Please keep the feedback coming 
Japanese particles are both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand 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 other word does that.” 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 certainly 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 ever 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 theoretical 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 where we should use one or the other. This is where the 2nd stock response (don’t worry, you’ll get it eventually) holds some truth.
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 largely independent of what goes on inside. は is a good describer and 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. Words marked with が stake their claim on the sentence (and the verb in particular), making a definite claim of ownership.
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“, because が would specifically link him to the being verb だ.
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 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, extrapolation and scene setting, 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 adjective.
Q: What do you think of Japan?
A: nihon wa omoshiroi desu.
Q: Which country is interesting?
A: nihon ga omoshiroi desu.
This example leads me to a very important point, one which is somewhat difficult to deduce from our concept of subject vs. topic: in Japanese, topics (は) are often used to illustrate contrast.
Consider the sentence “watashi wa chikoku shita” (I was late). There are two situations where we could use this sentence:
- Topic (Normal): watashi wa chikoku shita : I was late. (used in a discussion centered around the speaker)
- Topic (Contrast): watashi wa chikoku shita : I was late. (used when some other relevant person was not late, or it is not known if they were late)
I know you’re probably scratching your head and yes, this gets confusing even for native speakers. In fact it’s one of the reasons that normal topics are so commonly omitted in Japanese. If the contrast is intentional, however, は cannot be omitted (the sentence would become quite confusing if you did).
The big thing for learners to take away from all this is that は has the potential to imply a contrast. So the next time you talk to a pretty Japanese girl, be careful not to say “me wa kirei desu ne” (your eyes are beautiful), which could easily imply “but your other features are mediocre”. “Me ga kirei desu ne” is a matter-of-fact statement with no strings attached, much better in this situation.
…which brings me to the next important point…
“Contrasting” versus “Comparing”
Here we have yet another situation in which confusion in Japanese stems from overlooking some of the fine points of English.
I stated above that は is used for contrasting things, that’s something which is commonly said of は. I did not state that it compares things. It’s very important to make this distinction.
“Contrast (は)” juxtaposes the nature of things. Think of it like this: if A は B, then C は D and E は F. Everything has a certain property which is either true or false. When we make a “contrast” statement about something with は, the implication is that other things either lack that quality, or have a completely different quality.
“Comparison” juxtaposes the degree of things. If A is B, then C might be B too, but not as much so as A. As the subject marker, it’s が’s job to call out one specific thing from a group of similar things and showing it off: it distinguishes one particular thing.
Note that が is used in the common (comparison) grammatical form: ～ yori ～ no hou ga … (“～ is more … than ～”)
Now might be a good time to scroll back up to the example sentences and have another look. See if you can really pin down the difference in nuance between contrast and comparison, and see how that is related to topic versus subject. If you can, then you’re well on your way to knowing how to use these particles.
The removal test and 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 error that arises from misusing these particles is that you convey the wrong meaning.
So how can we possibly make a test that will hold true across different situations? Well, since は marks a topic, information that while important does not have a definite grammatical role, it is much less central to the message of a 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 (as in situation 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.
A similar test that works on the same principle is to try replacing the particle with a comma or 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 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 nature or 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 neutral, matter-of-fact statements that are meant to relay a specific piece of information.
- Good for physical descriptions, describing things that you can feel and touch.
- Good for “pointing” to one object, pulling it out from a group, or distinguishing it from others.
- Good for jumping from one thing to another making a series of not-closely-related statements.
Summary
To wind up the post, here is an image that I’ve prepared that wraps up the major usage points for は and が as cleanly and snugly as I could manage. These summary boxes can also be found on the Basic Japanese cheat sheet sheet (part of Nihonshock’s Japanese Cheat Sheet Pack! The Basic Japanese cheat sheet can be downloaded for free in PDF format from the cheat sheet site, so check it out if you haven’t already!
As always, comments are welcome.
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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
by: Alberto, Jul 8th at 6:43 pm
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: kyogokudo, Sep 20th at 4:23 am
I did so ;D u can get it here: http://www.embedupload.com/?d=7YHUCBQGIL
by: kyogokudo, Sep 20th at 12:19 pm
Thanks so much for this explanation…totally saved my life during Japanese class. Keep on writing!
by: Nicky, Mar 1st at 11:56 am
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: Kiru, May 18th at 12:20 am
You say that GA can be used to decribe a chain of events. Can you give an example, please?
by: Nena, Jul 15th at 2:14 am
thank you for explaining it more.. i now have a little idea about wa and ga.. i have japanese blood but i was so young when i left japan and i don’t have much recollection in my past.. i now leave here in the philippines and know how to speak the filipino language but now i forgot how to speak japanese, well not entirely .. but some..
so if you could still add some more example on when and how to use the two particles pls. do so.. ありがとう
by: arumi hayami, Jul 24th at 4:00 pm
Updated this article as of August 5, 2012.
I’m sorry I don’t have time to answer all your comments individually. Instead, I tried to make the article clearer in places where it seemed people were getting stuck, and also to reflect the input I’ve received thus far.
Thanks so much for the excellent feedback and keep it coming!
by: Lloyd Vincent, Aug 6th at 5:03 am
Excellent post. I also really like the pictures.
You said you wanted feedback, so I have one small contribution.
ie – id est, means “it is”
eg – exempli gratia, means “for example”
Your ie’s should be eg’s
by: Corbin, Sep 28th at 2:05 pm
I haven’t digested this whole thing yet, but I have digested the first diagram (topic & subject) – that was enlightening! Thank you.
by: Van, Dec 9th at 4:19 pm
Thanks for this posting. I’m a native Japanese tutor and was looking for an explanation for the difference. I’ve been pretty good at explaining the difference but today I couldn’t quite explain it when my student asked me why this sentence couldn’t use は. This is from Minna No Nihongo 1.
Q. What do you think of Japan?
A. I think prices are expensive. (Bukka GA takai to omoimasu.)
In that sentence WA clearly does not work. But, I couldn’t explain why in this case even though I explained to him what they mean with GA and WA. This is what they translate in my head:
1. (Bukka GA takai to omoimasu.)
– I think prices are expensive (IN JAPAN).
2. (Bukka WA takai to omoimasu.)
– I think prices are expensive – period – (in this whole world, in general)
But, how should English speakers know this?? Any insight? Did I miss some of your explanation from the post?
BTW, I briefly saw someone asking about に／へ (to). But, I don’t really use に. へ sounds a lot more proper/formal and I don’t use that type of speech often (I don’t work for a Japanese business).
by: Kazki, Dec 20th at 3:01 pm
@Kazki:
In understand が over は in your example, when I think of it as – Japan is the overarching topic and prices are the specific subject the respondent is talking about. Therefore が makes sense to me to be used in the answer; it’s implied the new subject (prices) is being talked about in relation to the overarching topic (Japan).
by: Van, Jan 1st at 2:06 pm
This a very interesting and comprehensive explanation. There is a book called 象は鼻が長い (zo wa hana ga nagai) written back in the 60’s but a Japanese professor. It alerted Japanese natives to the fact that a “subject” does not exist in Japanese as it does in Indo-European languages. So, like you say, in general は is for the topic (or what the speaker considers to be the most central part of the sentence) and が is for the “subject” (the doer of verb). So, in Japanese grammar, “topic” and “subject” aren’t synonymous, and the author argues against calling it the “subject”.
So, when the verb-doer comes to the front, it can take は but if an object (indirect or direct) comes to the front with particles like に、で、を then when the verb-doer follows later it must take が since it is not the “topic” of the sentence.
Consider the sentence “Dansei ga ringo wo otokonoko ni ageta” (The man gave an apple to the boy). Because of the particles ga, wo and ni, you can change those parts around and the meaning will not change, but the emphasis would.
1. Otokonoko ni dansei ga ringo wo ageta.
2. Ringo wo dansei ga otokoniko ni ageta.
3. Ringo wo otokonokoni dansei ga ageta.
Now, in the original sentence, you can swap ga with wa. In 2 & 3 above you can swap wo with wa, if you consider “ringo” to be the “topic”. Grammatically, “dansei” will always be the “subject”, or the verb-doer as I like to call it, but the topic can change in Japanese.
I know there is so much more to this issue that you have done so well to cover, but lastly,
Kimi ga ii.
Kimi wa ii.
These mean totally opposite things and it is a nightmare for new learners!
by: ken, Jan 15th at 10:12 am
@Kazki,
WA would work, but if someone said “Bukka wa takai to omoimasu.” I would expect the person to carry on about other aspects of Japan.
“Bukka wa takai to omoimasu. Demo, sumi yasukute, hito wa yasashii desu.”
“Bukka wa takai shi, shigoto wa mitsukari nikuishi, natsu wa atsui shi, fuyu wa samui shi…”
“Wa” isolates the topic from other topic-candidates, whereas “ga” is simply the grammatical subject (for lack of a better word; I like verb-doer but takai is an adjective in this case).
by: ken, Jan 15th at 10:23 am
Hello, not a linguist here & new to Japanese but definitely a computational & linguistic thinker. Taking a cue from the “who are you” vs “who is Lloyd” example… would I be missing anything if I simplified using this rule: For “wa” leave it out, or substitute “as to”.
For “ga” substitute “uniquely” or “in specific”.
Ga almost sounds like it is more a verb – wa and ga seem to be *both* subject markers but ga makes kind of a meta-claim about the subject being-the-subject in relation to the event/action that follows.
by: Josh Sutterfield, Apr 9th at 5:16 am
Thank you very very very very much!
by: Marry, May 27th at 6:12 pm
LOL at those stock responses! I’ve heard them all!
Thank you for this guide
by: Anonymous, May 30th at 12:29 pm
Great article, helps me understand how to use は and が much better. Although it is still a little confusing, but getting better. As stock statement #2 says, it will take time to really understand it fully.
by: Anonymous, Jun 8th at 12:22 pm
Cheers for the explanation! I’m just getting back into Japanese and have been having trouble trying to distinguish when (and why) I should use が over は. Your breakdown really helped!
by: Cameron, Jun 11th at 7:41 pm
Forgive me if I find this odd, but isn’t the symbol being used は “ha”? Isn’t “wa” the symbol わ?
by: Anonymous, Jun 18th at 11:13 pm
Well, figured it out. I forget that “wa” can be used as both in words and as a particle, and when as a particle “ha” is read as “wa”. Learn something new everyday.
\(>ワ<)/
by: Anonymous, Jun 19th at 6:17 am
I am german and learning japanese since some time, I am thinking about ha vs. ga since learning the language…. Visiting your blog was the FIRST TIME for me, that I really understand the difference between ha & ga! Thank you for all those wonderful explanations & examples…
I love dogs a lot, since a few minutes I love them even more^^
Best regards from Germany,
Anne
by: Anne, Jul 7th at 11:48 pm