Japanese Learning (A5 S17): Making an Object the Topic of a Sentence; Word with “o” turns to be Word with “wa” and placed at the beginning of the Sentence

Do you remember the construction of a transitive verb predicate sentence? That was;

1. [Subject] wa/ga [Object] o [Transitive Verb] masu/masen/mashita/masendeshita.

Example; Watashi wa Repo’oto o mou Kakimashita. (I have already written a report.)

In the construction 1, you see that the subject is followed by “wa” or “ga”.

– wa : particle to indicate the topic of the sentence

– ga : particle to indicate the subject of the sentence

However, since a subject is so important in a sentence, it could be the topic at the same time, and vice versa (the topic can also be the subject). Sometimes you need to choose one of “wa” or “ga” for the subject marker.

2. [Subject] wa/ga [predicate].

– “wa” is used when you explain the nature/condition/action of the known subject.

– “ga” is used when the sentence is to identify what the subject is.

Above mentioned are basics. Then let us learn things that are a bit beyond the basics. Suppose you are going to say a transitive verb predicate sentence. Usually, you want to make the subject the topic. But you want to make the object the topic, given that the subject is not so important that the subject can be omitted.

1. [Subject] wa/ga [Object] o [Transitive Verb Predicate].

Example; Watashi wa Repo’oto o mou Kakimashita. (I have already written a report.)

– The subject that is the operator of the verb “Kakimashita” is “Watashi”

– The topic of the sentence is also “Watashi”

– Therefore, the topic marker “wa” also indicates the subject that is the operator of the verb.

– The object marker “o” is attached to “Repo’oto (report)” that is the object of transitive verb “Kakimashita”.

2. [Topic = Object] wa [Transitive Verb Predicate].

Example; Repo’oto wa mou Kakimashita. (As to the report, I have already written it.)

– The subject that is the operator of the verb “Kakimashita” is probably “Watashi”. But it is not the important information in the situation.

– The topic of the sentence is “Repo’oto” that is not the subject but the object of the verb “Kakimashita”.

– Since the object has become the topic, the particle “o” is replaced by “wa”, and no longer seen in the sentence even though the sentence uses transitive verb “Kakimashita (have written)”.

By making the object the topic, the particle “o” will disappear. “wa” takes place of “o” and the word with “wa” moves to the head of the sentence where is the better place for topic. But I tell you again, this is a little beyond the basics. The basics is that a sentence with transitive verb predicate has the following construction;

* [Subject] wa/ga [Object] o [Transitive verb predicate].

Therefore, only a Japanese learner who have really learned this basic construction* should proceed to learn today’s construction. Actually, some Japanese learners and even teachers don’t like to learn nor use the particle “o”. They tend to make error by applying Wa-ga construction. And today’s construction is also used to avoid the particle “o”. Furthermore, those people use passive sentences to eliminate “o” from the sentence. This kind of “Avoidance strategy” is quite often observed in utterance of second language learners. But the particle “o” to indicate the object of action is so important and the basic of Japanese language. It is better to learn the particle “o”, instead of avoiding it.

This post was written with reference to the exercise A5 on Section 17 of “Minna no Nihongo (2^nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”