タグ: wa-ga construction

Japanese Learning: Expressions of Desire for Possession using the I-adjective “Hoshii”; Watashi wa [A] ga Hoshii desu.

Take a look at an example of today’s construction;

example : Watashi wa Kanojo ga Hoshii desu. (I want a girlfriend.)

Note that “Kanojo” in Japanese usually means “a girlfriend”. Only when you learn grammar of a language, or translate sentences of foreign language, “Kanojo” means “she”. Anyway, the example is a “wa-ga construction”. If a teacher does not explain properly “wa-ga construction”, it could result in huge damage on Japanese learners because “wa-ga construction” may make a learner erroneously think that the particle “-ga” is for an object. The most important basic of Japanese is that the particle “-ga” is for a subject, while the particle “-o” for an object.

In an English sentence “I want a girlfriend”, “a girlfriend” is an object of the transitive verb “want”. But in the Japanese sentence “Watashi wa Kanojo ga Hoshii desu.” DO NOT think that “Kanojo(a girlfriend)” is an object, NOR think that “-ga” is the particle for the object.

Rather, think “Kanojo ga” is the subject of the predicate “Hoshii desu”. “Hoshii” is an I-adjective, and means someone wants something. Since “Kanojo” is what you want, it can be the subject of “Hoshii”. It may seem wrong from the context, because “Watashi (I)” is the subject of the sentence. So, I recommend you thinking as shown below;

– Watashi wa = the topic of the sentence

– Kanojo ga = the subject of “Hoshii”

– Hoshii desu = the predicate

It is fact that there are “wa-ga constructions” in Japanese. And sometimes they seem to be a “double subject sentence”. Be careful about “wa-ga construction” sentences, and not be confused with normal transitive verb sentences that use the particle “-o” for the object:

example of “wa-ga construction”;

– Watashi wa Kamera ga Hoshii desu. (I want a camera.)

example of “transitive verb sentence”;

– Watashi wa Kamera o Kaimasu. (I (am going to) buy a camera.)

Perhaps it is difficult to understand the lengthy explanation above. Then simply think that the I-adjective “Hoshii” usually becomes “wa-ga construction”. Practice and remember the following conversation;

A : Satou-san wa Nani ga Hoshii desuka. (Sato-san, what do you want?)

B : Watashi wa Atarashii Sumaho ga Hoshii desu. (I want a brand-new smartphone.)

This post was written with reference to the exercise A1 on Section 13 of “Minna no Nihongo” published by “3A Corporation”

Japanese Learning: Difference between Wa-Ga Construction sentence and Transitive Verb predicate sentence

This series have explained “Wa-ga construction” for several days, because the Japanese textbook “Minna no Nihongo” is dealing with “Wa-ga construction” in Chapter 9. And it is not only an introduction of “Wa-ga construction”, also an introduction of particle “ga”. If you were introduced particle “ga” through “Wa-ga construction”, you might think that the particles “wa” and “ga” could coexist in a sentence. Yes, they can be in a sentence together if the sentence is Wa-ga construction, but most of the time you have to choose one of the two (wa or ga) for subject in a sentence.

1. Watashi wa Nihonjin desu. (I am Japanese.)

2. Watashi ga Nihonjin desu. (I am the person who is Japanese.)

In the both sentence 1 and 2, the subject is “Watashi”. But the subject marker in 1 is “wa”, while the subject marker in 2 is “ga”. How do you properly choose “wa” or “ga” for a subject? The exact explanation would be lengthy. For the simplicity, let me say as below.

– When the predicate is the important information, use “wa” for subject marker.

– When the subject itself is the important information, use “ga” for subject marker.

Anyway, sticking to “Wa-ga construction” would cause a huge damage on your sense about Japanese. The followings are quiz about Wa-ga construction sentences that use verbs for predicate and Verb predicate sentences. Choose “ga” or “o”. And answer the type of verb.

1. Watashi wa Okane { ga or o } arimasu. (I have money.)

   Type of verb? — { Intransitive or Mobile intransitive or Transitive }

2. Watashi wa Okane { ga or o } moraimasu. (I get money.)

   Type of verb? — { Intransitive or Mobile intransitive or Transitive }

3. Watashi wa Ie { ga or o } demasu. (I get out of my house.)

   Type of verb? — { Intransitive or Mobile intransitive or Transitive }

4. Watashi wa Imouto { ga or o } imasu. (I have a younger sister.)

   Type of verb? — { Intransitive or Mobile intransitive or Transitive }

5. Watashi wa Imouto ni Purezento { ga or o } agemasu. (I give a present to my younger sister.)

   Type of verb? — { Intransitive or Mobile intransitive or Transitive }

6. Watashi wa Yuugohan { ga or o } tabemasu. (I eat supper.)

   Type of verb? — { Intransitive or Mobile intransitive or Transitive }

Answers will be shown tomorrow.

Japanese Learning: Wa-Ga Construction for Verb “Arimasu”; [Person]+wa+[Something]+ga+Arimasu.

We are learning today yet another “Wa-ga construction” sentences that use an intransitive verb for the predicates.

1. Watashi wa Okane ga Arimasu. (I have money.)

Although the verb “have” in English is a transitive verb, the verb “Arimasu” in Japanese is an intransitive verb. If a verb is transitive verb, particle “o” is used to mark an object on which the action of the transitive verb exerts. But in this particular case, you want to identify what is existing (Arimasu). And the verb “Arimasu” is completely an intransitive verb. It is fact that, in some of “Wa-ga construction” sentences, “ga” seems to be an object marker as was explained yesterday.

2. [Subject] wa [Object] ga [Verb predicate]

example; Watashi wa Nihongo ga Wakarimasu.

However, some of “Wa-ga construction” sentences seem to be as follows;

3. [Broader topic] wa [Subject] ga [Predicate].

   ≒ As for [Broader topic], its [Subject] is [Predicate]

example: Nihon wa Sakana ga Oishii desu. (In Japan, fishes are tasty.)

Wa-ga construction of this type “3.” will be explained in the section 16 (Now section 9). It is difficult to say the Wa-ga construction using “Arimasu” is a type “2.” or “3.”. Probably it has both traits.

Wa-ga construction using “Arimasu” can express the possession of concrete objects like “1.”, and also it can express the existence of an event or other such thing as below;

4. Watashi wa Shigoto ga Arimasu. (I have a work.)

Practice and remember the following conversation;

A : Nichiyoubi, Satou-san wa Nani ga Arimasuka. (Sato-san, what do you have on Sunday?)

B : Nichiyoubi, Watashi wa Tesuto ga Arimasu. (I have a test on Sunday.)

<この投稿は“スリーエーネットワーク、みんなの日本語 初級I 第2版, 第9課A4”の内容を参照しています。>

Japanese Learning: Wa-Ga Construction for Verb “Wakarimasu”; [Person]+wa+[Something]+ga+Wakarimasu.

We have already learned two “Wa-ga construction” sentences. Their predicates are Na-adjectives “Sukina” and “Jouzuna”. Today we are going to learn a “Wa-ga construction” in which a verb is used for predicate.

1. Watashi wa Nihongo ga Wakarimasu. (I understand Japanese.)

The sentence 1 is of Wa-ga construction. Usually “Wa-ga construction” is explained as follows;

 [Topic] wa [Subject] ga [Predicate].

However, the sentence 1 seems to be;

[Subject] wa [Object] ga [Verb predicate]

Compare the following sentence with the sentence 1 above;

2. Watashi wa Nihongo o Benkyoushimasu. (I study Japanese.)

The verbs “understand” and “study” in English are in most cases transitive verbs. So, can you say two verbs “Wakarimasu” and “Benkyoushimasu” are both transitive verbs, and “ga” is also object marker as “o”?

The verb “Wakarimasu” is not a transitive verb but an intransitive verb. “Wakarimasu” doesn’t use particle “o” but uses “ga” for the object. Probably it is not enough to say “Wakarimasu is an intransitive verb” for the reason why Wakarimasu uses “ga” for its object. The explanation would not be easy. I just recommend you to remember the example sentence like 1, and to be able to use the expression “[Something] ga Wakarimasu”. But if I say something about “ga Wakarimasu”, it would be that the verb “Wakarimasu” contains the meaning of “possible”. As to the meaning of Wakarimasu, it is usually said to be like “understand” in English, but think it can also be like “can tell”. If you want to say you can do something, you will put emphasis on what you can do. In Japanese, if you want to identify an object, in the cases below, “ga” is used for that object.

– you want (～ga hoshiidesu.)

– you like (～ga sukidesu.)

– you are good at(～ga jouzudesu.)

– you understand(～ga wakarimasu.) — Today’s expression

– you have(～ga arimasu.)

– you can(～ga dekimasu.)

Wakarimasu, arimasu, and dekimasu are verbs. But they are in some extent stative. If the verb is actionable, and the verb is a transitive verb or is a mobile intransitive verb, do not forget the following basics;

[Subject] ga [object] o [Verb] masu.

And know that “Wa-ga construction” is not versatile any time.

Practice and remember “Wa-ga construction” sentences through the following conversations.

A : Satou-san wa Eigo ga Wakarimasuka. (Do you understand English?)

B : Hai, Watashi wa Eigo ga Wakarimasu. (Yes, I understand English.)

<この投稿は“スリーエーネットワーク、みんなの日本語 初級I 第2版, 第9課A3”の内容を参照しています。>

Japanese Learning: Wa-Ga Construction for Na-adjective “Jouzuna”; [Person]+wa+[Something]+ga+Jouzudesu.

This time is also about “Wa-ga construction”. We learned one of “Wa-ga construction” sentences that uses Na-adjective “Sukina” as the following.

1. Watashi wa Ryokou ga Sukidesu. (I like traveling.)

Today’s “Wa-ga construction” sentence uses also Na-adjective which is “Jouzuna”. Jouzuna means “be good at”. Note that adjectives are word that express state and/or nature.

Some of Japanese learners like “Wa-ga construction” very much because its structure shapes the meaning. Structural thing is also important in Japanese, but the functions of particles are also important. Thanks to the functions of particle, Japanese sentences have freedom for the order of words in some extent. If you stick to “Wa-ga construction” too much, you would not be able to learn the functions that each particle has. The very basic of Japanese is that particle “ga” is for subject, “o” for object. “Wa-ga construction” is out of this basic. Since damage caused by sticking to “Wa-ga construction” is severe, I will continue to explain this problem.

Today we are learning a Na-adjective “Jouzuna” which means “be good at”. Practice and remember the following conversations. Note that neither A or B are Sato-san.

A : Satou-san wa Nani ga Jouzudesuka. (What is Sato-san good at doing?)

B : Satou-san wa Ryouli ga Jouzudesu. (She is good at cooking.)

<この投稿は“スリーエーネットワーク、みんなの日本語 初級I 第2版, 第9課A2”の内容を参照しています。>

Japanese Learning: Wa-Ga Construction for Na-adjective “Sukina”; [Person]+wa+[Something]+ga+Sukidesu.

This Japanese learning series refer to the famous textbook “Minna no Nihongo”. On its chapter 9, the so-called “Wa-ga construction” is introduced. And this is also the first appearance of important particle “ga” in “Minna no Nihongo”. Actually, I don’t think it is good to introduce the particle “ga” through “Wa-ga construction”.

 Probably a Japanese learner would think the particles “wa” and “ga” can co-exist once having learned “Wa-ga construction”. And some of learners would stick to “Wa-ga construction” too much, while they wouldn’t learn the functions of particles.

 A Japanese teacher is supposed to explain “Wa-ga construction” as below;

1. [Topic]+wa+ [Subject]+ga+[Predicate].

Sometime, it is good to understand like 1, but sometime is not. For the latter, it seems like;

2. [Subject]+wa+ [Object]+ga+[Predicate].

Do you remember the structure of transitive verb predicate sentences?

3. [Subject]+wa+[Object]+o+ [Transitive verb].

When you look at 2 and 3, what do you think about the particles “ga” and “o”? Would you think that the particles “ga” and “o” are interchangeable? No. Most of the time, they are not interchangeable, though there are some exceptions.

But it is a fact that there are sentences like 2. Therefore, some textbooks explain that particle “ga” is for subject and object, which is really a bad explanation because subject and object are totally different kind in a sentence. The most important and basic thing in Japanese language is that particle “ga” is for subject (Subject marker). Remember this. Don’t say “ga” is for object. It is particle “o” that marks an object. But when you want to identify something as an object that;

– you want

– you like

– you are good at

– you understand

– you have

– you can

particle “ga” is used for such an object, and the sentence would be like 2.

Again, you need to know that “ga” is for subject. For example, sentences as below are common.

4. [Subject]+ga+[Object]+o+ [Transitive verb].

But as exceptions, “ga” is used for objects that is something special you want to identify.

Today we are learning a Na-adjective “Sukina” which means “like”. Practice and remember the following conversations;

A : Satou-san wa Nani ga Sukidesuka. (Sato-san, what do you like?)

B : Watashi wa Ryokou ga Sukidesu. (I like traveling.)

<この投稿は“スリーエーネットワーク、みんなの日本語 初級I 第2版, 第9課A1”の内容を参照しています。>