日: 2026年8月28日

Japanese learning (A4 S37): Passive Sentences in which Who makes the action is not important; [Subject] ga [V-pas] masu.

One thing is common between the passive sentences in the exercise A4 and A5. In the sentences of A4 and A5, the actor of the action is not important. Of course, the subject and the passive action are important in the sentences of both A4 and A5. Then, the difference between A4 and A5 is the subject markers; “-ga” is used in A4, and “-wa” in A5.

Sample of the A4 type passive sentences are as follows;

1. Toukyou de Orimpikku ga Okonaware masu. (In Tokyo, the Olympic games will be carried out.)

In fact, the Olympic games were held in 2021, but the sentence 1 is of future tense. “Okonawareru/Okonawaremasu” is the passive form of the verb “Okonau/Okonaimasu” which means “carry out”. If the passive sentence 1 was converted to be an active sentence, it would be;

– Toukyou de “???” ga Orimpikku o Okonai masu. (In Tokyo, ??? will carry out the Olympic games.)

As you see in the above sentence, we don’t know who will carry out the Olympic games. And the actor of the action “carry out” doesn’t appear in the sentence 1. It is just because who makes the action is not important;

2. Sumida-gawa de Hanabi ga Uchiagerare masu. (On the Sumida River, the fireworks will be launched.)

“Uchiagerareru/Uchiageraremasu” is the passive form of the verb “Uchiageru/Uchiagemasu”. And as well as the sentence 1. this sentence 2 also doesn’t mention who is the actor, because who makes the action is not important information in this sentence.

Both in the sentence 1 and 2, the subject markers are “-ga”. The subject marker “-ga” functions to identify what the subject is. But the “-ga” in the sentence 1 and 2 are usually explained as “’-ga’ for the new information”. When “-ga” is used for the subject marker, the concept of the subject has not yet shared between the speaker and the listener. The speaker knows it, but the listener doesn’t. The listener receives the subject as a new information. This is the difference from the case that “-wa” is used for the subject marker.

When the speaker says “[Subject] wa”, the concept of the subject has already been shared between the speaker and the listener.We will see some passive sentences in which the actor doesn’t appear tomorrow, too. But they will use “-wa” for the subject marker.

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This post was written with reference to the exercise A4 on Section37 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”