In this course, we will tackle one of the most important particles in the Japanese language : the particle が which is the particle of the verb subject. Before continuing any further, a little reminder is in order. You remember that, a few lessons ago, we discussed the difference that the Japanese make between the topic of the sentence and the subject of the verb, that they are two very distinct notions. Until now, in our Japanese sentences, we have always used topics.
This course will finally be an opportunity to discover what we call the subject of the verb in Japanese and when we use it. You are already familiar with the use of the particle は which is the particle of the topic of the sentence, it is high time to discover other peculiarities.
We are going to cover several concepts in this course that will seem very complicated to some of you. As usual, I will do my best to cover each of these new concepts with detailed explanations and example sentences so that you fully understand everything that will be covered. Finally, take your time and don’t hesitate to take breaks and re-read the course if necessary.
So, this particle が that indicates the subject of the verb, when are we going to need it ? To better understand all this, we will see four cases in which we will use the particle が.
First case : mark the difference between the topic and the subject of the verb.
1. Mark the difference between the topic and the subject of the verb
In the first case, we’ll use the particle が when we need a subject for the verb and when the topic of the sentence is different from the subject of the verb.
In all the sentences that we have seen so far, this has never been the case. All our sentences contained a topic that was equivalent to the subject of the verb when we translated the sentence into English.
Also, I hope you understood it now : in Japanese the topic of the sentence can be almost anything and everything, without necessarily being the subject of the verb. It can be a place, a time...
Before continuing any further, an example stands out. Observe the sentence below. If we want to say « Children and adults read manga in France. » :
子供と大人はフランスで漫画を読む。
こどもとおとなはフランスでまんがをよむ。
Children and adults read manga in France.
Well, this sentence is the most classic. 子供と大人は . こどもとおとなは is the topic of the sentence. フランスで is the place where the action takes place.
Now imagine that I want to change the nuance of this sentence slightly and say « In France, children and adults read manga. ».
Take a look at the example below :
フランスでは子供と大人が漫画を読む。
フランスではこどもとおとながまんがをよむ。
In France, children and adults read manga.
« In France » becomes the topic of my sentence but also the place where an action takes place. We will therefore have two particles that follow each other : で and は. Then we have the subject of the verb : 子供と大人 which is followed by the particle が and NOT the particle は. Remember that it is IMPOSSIBLE to have the particle は twice in the same sentence.
So, let’s recap :
フランスでは子供と大人が漫画を読む。
フランスではこどもとおとながまんがをよむ。
In France, children and adults read manga.
フランスでは : this is the topic of my sentence, a place where action takes place.
子供と大人が . こどもとおとなが : this is the subject of the verb.
The topic of the sentence is different from the subject of the verb. We have just broken down a sentence that corresponds to the first case.
Let’s look at a few other examples. If we mean « In Japan, all children go to school. » :
日本では子供が皆学校に行く。
にほんではこどもがみんながっこうにいく。
In Japan, all children go to school.
日本では . にほんでは : this is the topic of my sentence, a place where action takes place. The action for children to « go to school ».
子供が . こどもが : this is the subject of the verb.
Now let’s take a slightly more complex example. If we mean « In Tsukioka’s store, they sell newspapers and magazines to children and adults. » :
月岡の店では子供や大人に新聞や雑誌を売る。
つきおかのみせではこどもとおとなにしんぶんやざっしをうる。
In Tsukioka’s store, they sell newspapers and magazines to children and adults.
月岡の店では . つきおかのみせでは : this is the topic of my sentence, a place where action takes place.
子供や大人に . こどもとおとなに : it is the indirect object complement (to whom do we sell newspapers and magazines ? To children and adults.)
But where is the subject of my verb in this sentence? It’s very simple, it’s suggested.
In the sentence « In Tsukioka’s store, they sell newspapers and magazines to children and adults. », the personal pronoun « they », for lack of context, designates a subject in a very vague way. It can be anyone, men, women, whatever; in the sentence in Japanese, the subject is not clearly stated, so in English we will say « they ». If the subject had been clearly indicated in the sentence in Japanese, it would be followed by the particle が.
All that being said, remember this : in a sentence where we have a topic of the sentence different from the subject of the verb, we are going to use the particle は first and then the particle が. So much for the first case.
Now let’s move on to the second case.
2. Insist on the subject of the verb or give completely new information
In a sentence without a topic, to emphasize the subject of the verb or to give a whole new information, we will use the particle が. Below is an example. We will first see a simple sentence with the particle は, then we will compare it with the same sentence but with the particle が.
ピーチはキノコ王国の王女だ。
ピーチはキノコおうこくのおうじょだ。
Peach is the princess of the mushroom kingdom.
Well, a simple sentence as we now know how to do them. Now, if we want to insist on the fact that IT IS Peach WHO is the princess of the mushroom kingdom, we replace the particle は with the particle が.
ピーチがキノコ王国の王女だ。
ピーチがキノコおうこくのおうじょだ。
THIS IS Peach WHO is the princess of the mushroom kingdom.
In this sentence, we draw the attention of the speaker to the fact that the princess of the mushroom kingdom is Peach. Let’s imagine someone asks who the princess of the mushroom kingdom is, you have to answer « THIS IS Peach WHO is the princess of the mushroom kingdom. » using the particle が.
With the particle が, we give you a whole new information about something that was unknown to us and / or to our interlocutor. For example, if we want to say, « I hear a noise in the bedroom. » :
寝室で物音が聞く。
しんしつでものおとがきく。
I hear a noise in the bedroom.
(The fact that he / she hears noise in the room implies that something is going on, so we use the particle で.)
The sentence, and in particular the use of the particle が, implies that the speaker assumes that there is no one in the room and therefore that no noise should come from the room.
All that being said, remember this : in a sentence without a topic, to emphasize the subject of the verb or to give a whole new information, we are going to use the particle が.
Now let’s move on to the third case.
3. Indicate the presence of something or someone
The third case is to indicate the presence of something or someone. Below, an example with the presence verb ある.
チョコレートバーはテーブルの上にある。
チョコレートバーはテーブルの上にある。
The chocolate bar is on the table.
Well, this sentence is the most classic. チョコレートバーは is the topic of the sentence. テーブルの上に .テーブルのうえに is where the chocolate bar is located.
Now let’s imagine that I want to change this sentence slightly and say « On the table, there is a bar of chocolate. » :
テーブルの上にはチョコレートバーがある。
テーブルのうえにはチョコレートバーがある。
On the table, there is a bar of chocolate.
By turning the sentence this way, we give information about where the chocolate bar is. Then if we just want to say, « There’s a chocolate bar. », we’ll say :
チョコレートバーがある。
There is a chocolate bar.
Another example :
丘の頂上には村がある。
おかのちょうじょうにはむらがある。
At the top of the hill, there is a village.
村がある。
むらがある。
There is a village.
Of course, this also works with the verb いる. Take a look at the example below :
岩の上に猫がいる。
いわのうえにねこがいる。
There is a cat on the rock.
And just to say, « There is a cat. » :
猫がいる。
ねこがいる。
There is a cat.
So much for the third use of the particle が in a sentence without a topic, to emphasize the subject of the verb or to give completely new information.
Now let’s move on to the fourth and last case.
4. Express the verb « to have »
In the fourth case you can express the verb « to have ». For you to understand better, already know that there is no verb « to have » in Japanese in the same sense that we understand it in our Western languages. Once again, the presence verb ある will come in handy. Take a look at the following example below :
犀は角がある。
さいはつのがある。
Literally, we would translate this sentence like this : « Regarding rhino, it has horns. ». The most correct translation is therefore « The rhino has horns. ».
Of course, this also works with the verb いる. Take a look at the example below :
私は弟と妹がいる。
わたしはおとうとといもうとがいる。
I have a little brother and a little sister.
Note : in this sentence I use the kanji of 弟 . おとうと and the kanji of 妹 . いもうと to designate MY little brother and MY little sister by talking about my OWN family. If you want to refer to the family members of another person, you will use different terms. We will see a list of vocabulary on the subject much later.
We are finally done with this first lesson on the particle が. Of course, we still have a lot of other things to do with this particle, notably grammatical forms... but we will cover all these novelties much later, especially after discussing the polite form and the past tense.
However, before we let you go, we need to address one final point about the particle は.
In this lesson, we have seen that the particle は does not necessarily indicate what relates to the subject of the verb and that we can also put it with another particle.
Indeed, the topic of the sentence can correspond :
– About the verb : 私は . わたしは
– A place where something is happening : 日本では . にほんでは
– A place where nothing happens : 日本には . にほんには
– A direction : 日本へは . にほんへは
– A time complement : 来年は . らいねんは ; 今日は . きょうは ; 十一時に . じゅういちじに
– A starting point : 7時からは . 7じからは
– An end point / A point of arrival : ニュージランドまでは
– A DOC : 犀は . さいは
– Etc…
That said, in most cases, the particle は alone is sufficient. This is particularly the case for the particles で, に, へ, から and まで – in short, all the particles with which we can associate the particle は are dispensable.
In fact, if, in a sentence, your topic is a place where something is happening, or conversely a place where nothing is happening, or a direction, a starting point or an ending point, you don’t have to specify it in the topic using the particles provided for this purpose. Below, let’s take an example we saw at the very beginning of the course to help you understand :
フランスでは子供と大人が漫画を読む。
フランスではこどもとおとながまんがをよむ。
In France, children and adults read manga.
Well, we have the particle で so we can indicate that France is the place where the action of « read manga » takes place. But we can very well say :
フランスは子供と大人が漫画を読む。
フランスはこどもとおとながまんがをよむ。
In France, children and adults read manga.
Literally, the sentence would be : « Regarding France, children and adults read manga ». Obviously it’s a bit heavy, so we’ll just say : « In France, children and adults read manga. ».
So, you are probably going to ask yourself the question of knowing what is the difference between the sentence with the particle は only and the same sentence with the particles で and は. In fact, the sentence with the particle は only assumes a larger topic while the fact of adding the particle で makes it clear that the topic is a place where an action takes place. However, even without the particle で, the verb 読む . よむ, which is an action verb makes us understand that in the place that acts as a topic, the action of « read manga » takes place.
It’s all a matter of nuance, but those nuances do not exist in the English language, so that will sound a bit strange to some of you. Having said that, don’t worry, with practice it will become quite natural.
So here we are at the conclusion, and for good this time ! I will repeat myself but this is how it works. Do not hesitate to reread the course several times to assimilate everything we have just seen, practice writing your hiragana and katakana again and again, revise the vocabulary, even in previous courses... And of course, do your exercises as seriously as possible.
Good luck !
売る .
うる . to sell (new verb)
The particle of the verb subject