| Author | Message | ||
     Mr. Anonymous |
The ever-confusing question: "When do i use 'HA', and when do i use 'GA'!?" I shall try to add some clarity... | ||
| Mr. Anonymous |
は (ha) and が (ga) in one sentence; a description and example. 象は鼻が長いです。 zou ha/wa hana ga nagai desu. Elephants have long noses (trunks). or The elephant has a long nose (trunk). or As for elephants, [their] noses (trunks) are long. The last one is probably the most *direct* translation. Grammatical Explanation: 1.) This sentence is a permutation of the AはBです (A wa/ha B desu) sentence construction. A basic example of that is 像は大きいです (zou wa/ha ookii desu) "As for elephants, [they are] big." 2.) は (wa/ha) is the "Topic Marker" of a sentence. Therefore, it marks the topic! You can think of it as being translated to "as for ____". 3.) が (ga) is the "Subject marker" of a sentence, and it adds emphasis. Therefore, it marks the subject! For the sentence その像が大きいです (sono zou ga ookii desu) "That elephant is big." Okay, before I go in different directions, I would like people to ask specific questions. I tried to be very general for this introduction to "HA" and "GA"... It's hard to explain with small sentences because the difference is sooo subtle... So, ask away! | ||
| Matjlav |
another thing, if you use "ga" instead of "wa"... it gives a strong nuance to the sentence, sorta... basically "ga" can stress the subject, sometimes. such as 貴方はピッツァを配った (Anata wa pittsa o kubatta) means "you delivered the pizza", but if you want to stress the fact that you delivered it, it should be 貴方がピッツァを配った (Anata ga pittsa o kubatta). Do you get that? Also, it can be used with adjectives. Such as: キミは犬が欲しい (Kimi wa inu ga hoshii), which means "You want a dog." More literally, it means "As for you, a dog is wanted." I think it can be used with other things like that. 鱸江くんはその犬が大好き。(Rokou-kun wa inu ga dai suki) means "Rokou loves that dog." While more literally, it means "As for Rokou, that dog is loved." Do you get that? I hope so... | ||
| Matjlav |
Well, one question: should you always use "ga" when you are identifying a single subject, and always "wa" when generalizing? E.g. キッドはとろい。 (Kiddo wa doroi) means "Kids are stupid" while そのキッドがどろい。 (Sono kiddo ga doroi) means "That kid is stupid." Also, would you pretty much always use その (sono) with が (ga)? And would そのキッドはどろい (Sono kiddo wa doroi) make any sense? There. Will that keep you occupied? Hehe. Arigatou gozaimasu! | ||
| Mr. Anonymous |
Sorry this took so long... i guess i'm lazy =P Well, just think of "as for ..."/"topic" for は and "subject" for が... I can't really explain it too well... you just have to get used to it =P | ||
| Anonymous |
i understand that now.. thanx. so then, i hope im not troubling too much to ask, but whats the difference between "ha" and "wa"? like... if i wanted to say..."I am David" would i say...: "Watashi-wa deibitto desu"? or "Watashi-ha deibitto desu"? i think im also missing something in that sentence ("wo" before the "desu") but im not sure how that works.... can you explain that also?? i think the grammer for a declarative sentence is [subject] (wa) [direct object] (o) [verb] is this correct?? | ||
| Respondent |
Ha/wa issue: は is pronounced "wa" in わたしはデイビッドです。 People refer to it as "ha" because inputting "wa" on the keyboard will turn out わ. It is always read "wa" but typed "ha." As for the declarative you mentioned, it is declarative form, but there are many others, as you can see in the examples shown earlier on this thread. |