The last post showed the followings as alternatives for sentences of A2 S42 in Minna no Nihongo.
1. Kono Pasokon wa Inta’anetto o Miru no ni Tsukai masu.
(This is the personal computer that I use to browse the internet.)
2. Kono Pasokon wa Shigoto ni Tsukai masu.
(This is the personal computer that I use for work.)
3. Kono Pasokon wa Ge’emu o Suru no ni Ii desu.
(This personal computer is good for playing games.)
4. Kono Pasokon wa Shucchou ni Ii desu.
(This personal computer is good for business trips.)
The sentences 1 and 2 are expressing purposes of the action of predicate verbs. The sentence 3 and 4 are expressing what kind of nature the subject has for a certain purpose. Also it is important to pay attention to nominalization of verbs (Miru, Suru) using the nominalizer “no” (Muru-no, Suru-no), and to a function of the particle “ni” which is to indicate the purpose of action.
But what today’s post is going to tell you is probably not the main purpose of the exercise A2 of the section 42 in Minna no Nihongo. It is about consistency between the subject and the predicate of a sentence and changes of particles from “-o” to “-wa” when an object becomes the topic.
The difference between the sentences “1 and 2” and “3 and 4” is the predicates. The sentences 1 and 2 have verb predicates, and 3 and 4 have adjective predicates. Is it the only difference?
There is a very important thing when you make a sentence. It is that the subject and the predicate must be consistent each other. Let’s look at the sentence 3 and 4. Extracting the subject and the predicate, we can get the following (3 and 4 are the same)
3/4. {Kono Pasokon wa} {Ii desu}. — This personal computer is good.
There is no problem at all as to the consistency between the subject and the predicate. Then through the same procedure, what will we get from the sentence 1 and 2?
1/2. {Kono Pasokon wa} {Tsukai masu}. — This personal computer uses.
The problem is whether or not a personal computer can be an operator. I am not sure for English, but saying like “This PC uses a lot of electricity” may not be a problem. But it sounds funny in Japanese language*. It should be “A human kind uses a computer.” like;
5. Satou-san wa Pasokon o Tsukai masu. (Sato-san uses a personal computer.)
Therefore, the subject and the predicate are inconsistent in the sentence “{Kono Pasoko wa} {Tsukai masu}.” If the sentences 1 and 2 are right, something had happened. Let me show you a correct sentence with fixing the inconsistency between the subject and the predicate.
6. Watashi wa Kono Pasokon o Inta’anetto o Miru no ni Tsukai masu**.
(I use this personal computer for browsing the internet.)
There is no subject written in the original sentence, but it is most likely that the missing subject is “Watashi (I)”. Extracting the subject and the predicate, we can get “Watashi wa Tsukai masu.” which is no problem in respect of consistency between the subject and the predicate.
Every time you make a sentence, you need to check the consistency between the subject and the predicate. A predicate is usually placed at the end of a sentence in Japanese. And the subject is indicated by particle “-ga”. When the subject and the topic are identical in a sentence, then “-wa” can be the Subject marker.
Then we need to think how the sentence 6 can turn to be the sentence 1. Think about a situation in which saying “Watashi wa” is not so important in the conversation.
6’. Kono Pasokon o Inta’anetto o Miru no ni Tsukai masu.
And you come to think you want to emphasize the “this personal computer” like “This is the PC that I use for browsing the internet”. Then a change would happen to the object indicator “-o” in order to make the PC the topic of the sentence. The topic marker is “-wa”.
1. Kono Pasokon wa Inta’anetto o Miru no ni Tsukai masu.
(This is the personal computer that I use to browse the internet.)
So the conclusion is; as to “-wa” of “Kono Pasokon wa” in the sentence 1 through 4;
– “-wa” in the sentence 1 and 2 are the topic marker, not the subject marker for the predicate “Tsukai masu”.
– “-wa” in the sentence 3 and 4 are the topic marker, at the same time the subject marker for the predicate “Ii desu.”
* It is better to avoid using inanimate objects as subjects for sentences in Japanese.
** Don’t complain about using “-o” twice. It is good to use one particle once in one sentence if it’s a short and simple sentence, but in a complicated sentence, it is likely the same particle are used more than once. The second “-o” is inside a phrase of “-ni”.
6. Watashi wa Kono Pasokon o {Inta’anetto o Miru no ni} Tsukai masu**.
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This post was written with reference to the exercise A2 of Section42 in “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
