There are not much differences from yesterday’s sentences. Both in yesterday’s and today’s, “V-te iru” works to express a result that happened in one time in the past has still been persisting. This kind of “V-te iru” sometimes is dealt with a part of “V-te iru for “Action Continues””, but when an intransitive verb is used for “V-te iru”, it is categorized as “A Result is Persisting”. The only difference between yesterday and today is the subject markers. Yesterday’s sentences use “ga” and today’s “wa”. And today’s sentences use one-series of Ko-so-a words,
1. Kono Denki wa Kiete imasu. (This light is turned off.)
2. Sono Ko’ohi’i Sa’aba’a wa Koshou Shite imasu. (That coffee server broke.)
3. Ano Ki wa Taorete imasu. (That tree has fallen over.)
The sentence 1 indicates that the light turned off in some point in past. After that, the light has been off until now. This explanation was repeated in yesterday’s post. So for today, let us just look at two issues; comparison between intransitive and transitive verbs, and comparison between “wa” and “ga”.
[ 1 ] Intransitive verbs and Transitive verbs
1. Int: Kieru/Kiemasu : Denki ga Kiemashita. (The light turned off.)
Tra: Kesu/Keshimasu : Watashi wa Denki o Keshimashita. (I turned the light off.)
2. Int: Koshoushuru/Koshoushimasu : Ko’ohi’i Sa’aba’a ga Koshou shimasita. (The coffee server has broken.)
Interestingly, there isn’t the transitive version of “Koshousuru/Koshoushimasu”. One of group3 verb “Suru/Shimasu” is very often used as transitive verbs. Although “Suru/Shimasu” sometimes works as intransitive verbs, but not many times. Likewise, compound group 3 verbs with active noun and “Suru/Shimasu” are usually transitive.
<examples — transitive>
– Benkyou-suru (study) : Nihongo o Benkyou-shimasu (study Japanese)
– Ryouri-suru (cook) : Suigyouza o Ryouri-shimasu (cook boiled dumplings)
– Yoyaku-suru (reserve) : Hoteru o Yoyaku-shimasu (reserve a hotel room)
<examples — intransitive>
But there are some compound Gr3 verbs that is a combination of active noun and “Suru/Shimasu”
– Sanka-suru (participate) : Boranthia ni Sanka-shimasu (participate a volunteer activity)
– Goukaku-suru (pass a exam) : Kiken ni Goukaku-shimasu (pass the examination)
– Shuushoku-suru (start working) : Kaisha ni Shuushoku-shimasu (start working in a company)
– Koshou-suru (break) : Kopi’iki ga Koshou-shimasita (Photocopy machine has broken.)
So, group3 verbs “Naninani-suru” are usually transitive verbs, but you need to be careful that some of them are intransitive verbs.
3. Int: Taoreru/Taoremasu : Ki ga Taore mashita. (The tree fell down.)
Tra: Taosu/Taoshimasu : Furui Ie o Taoshi mashita. (We tore down the old house.)
As is the case in 1 and 3, There are pairs of intransitive verb and transitive verb. It is like rise-raise, lie-lay, and sit-seat in English. The problem is that there are so many such pairs in Japanese. On the other, sometimes like 2, there is only intransitive verb and no transitive verb that can be a pair with intransitive verb. Actually, there is a way to have such intransitive verb work as transitive verb. The way will be explained in the section 48.
[ 2 ] “wa” or “ga” for Subject Marker
All the three sentences of today use “wa” for the subject marker.
1. Kono Denki <wa> Kiete imasu. (This light is turned off.)
2. Sono Ko’ohi’i Sa’aba’a <wa> Koshou Shite imasu. (That coffee server broke.)
3. Ano Ki <wa> Taorete imasu. (That tree has fallen over.)
In these situations, the speaker and the listener share what the subject is. Two persons are looking the same light in the sentence 1, the same coffee server in 2, and the same tree in 3. But if you want to use “ga” instead of “wa”, what kind of situation necessitates use of “ga” for subject marker?
1’. A : I have heard that a light bulb is off. Which one is turned off?
B : Kono Denki <ga> Kiete imasu. (This the light that is turned off.)
2’. A : I have heard that one of coffee servers had got problem and didn’t work well. Do you know which one is broken?
B : Sono Ko’ohi’i Sa’aba’a <ga> Koshou Shite imasu. (That coffee server is the one that has broken.)
3’. A : There are many trees in the park. Do you know if there is a tree that fell down by the strong wind yesterday?
B : Ano Ki <ga> Taorete imasu. (That tree has fallen over.)
As you can see, if we think of situation in which “ga” is used for the subject markers, we need to make up settings. On the other, the sentences 1, 2, and 3 using “wa” are simply mentioning the situation. It is really a difficult problem as to which of “wa” or “ga” is to be used. If you don’t know which is better, using “wa” may be a good choice. “wa” is broadly being used for topic marker and subject marker. This is the reason that you learn “wa” in the first day of Japanese learning, but “ga” comes later.
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This post was written with reference to the exercise A2 on Section29 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
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