Topic は and subject が
A1 主題の「は」と主格の「が」 4 / 69
In short
は (pronounced wa) marks the topic - “as for X, here is the comment”. が (ga) marks the grammatical subject, especially when it is new, unexpected, or the answer to who? / what?. They are not two words for “is”: は sets the frame, が picks out the participant.
The rule
This is the working A1 approximation - reliable for everything you will say for the next year. The full picture (contrastive は, scope of negation, は inside subordinate clauses) comes back at B1 in は and が revisited. Do not chase those cases now.
Step 1 - Read は as “as for…”
A Japanese sentence is normally Topic + は + comment. The topic is the thing already on the table; the comment is the news about it.
- 私は学生です。 (Watashi wa gakusei desu.) - As for me, [I] am a student.
Note that は is written with the character は but pronounced wa when it is the particle. This is a spelling relic; it never changes.
Crucially, は is not a subject marker. It can sit on top of a subject, an object, a time, a place - anything you want to raise as the frame:
- これは読みました。 (Kore wa yomimashita.) - This one, [I] have read. -> here the topic is the object.
- 今日はテストがあります。 (Kyō wa tesuto ga arimasu.) - Today there is a test. -> here the topic is the time.
Step 2 - Use が for the subject, especially when it is news
が marks the grammatical subject. Choose it when the subject itself is the new or unpredictable information:
- Existence and appearance: 公園に猫がいます。 (Kōen ni neko ga imasu.) - There is a cat in the park. The cat is new; it cannot be a topic yet.
- A question word in subject position always takes が, never は: 誰が来ますか。 (Dare ga kimasu ka.) - Who is coming? A question word is by definition unknown, and unknown things cannot be topics. (As an object it still takes its own particle: 何を食べますか。 (Nani o tabemasu ka.) - the point is that は is never allowed on a question word.)
- The answer to a が-question keeps が: 山田さんが来ます。 (Yamada-san ga kimasu.) - Yamada is coming. The question asked which person, so the answer must point at the person the same way.
Step 3 - Learn the が-predicates as a closed list
A small group of predicates describes ability, need and feeling. Their “object” looks like an English object but is grammatically a subject, so it takes が, not を:
好き (suki, like), 嫌い (kirai, dislike), 上手 (jōzu, good at), 下手 (heta, bad at), 分かる (wakaru, understand), できる (dekiru, can do), ある／いる (aru / iru, exist, have), ほしい (hoshii, want), 要る (iru, need).
- 私は日本語が分かります。 (Watashi wa Nihongo ga wakarimasu.) - I understand Japanese.
Memorise these as 〜が好きです, 〜が分かります, 〜がほしいです - particle included. That saves you the single most frequent A1 error.
Step 4 - Stack the two: 象は鼻が長い
Because は and が do different jobs, one sentence can carry both. This is the double-subject template - a topic, then a が-subject inside the comment:
Topic + は + [ Subject + が + Predicate ]
- 象は鼻が長いです。 (Zō wa hana ga nagai desu.) - Elephants have long trunks. Literally: as for elephants, the nose is long.
Japanese uses this where English would use have. 田中さんは背が高いです。 (Tanaka-san wa se ga takai desu.) - Tanaka is tall (as for Tanaka, the height is high).
Step 5 - Know what は replaces and what it stacks on
When you topicalise, は overrides and replaces が and を - you never write ×がは or ×をは. With every other particle (に, で, と, から, まで, へ), は stacks after it:
- 私が -> 私は | 本を -> 本は
- 部屋に -> 部屋には | 日本で -> 日本では | 母と -> 母とは
Step 6 - Say the topic once, then drop it
Once a topic is established it is simply not repeated. Japanese has no obligatory pronoun, so the following clauses have no visible subject at all - this is called zero anaphora, and it is the normal, native pattern:
- 山田さんは学生です。毎日大学へ行きます。 (Yamada-san wa gakusei desu. Mainichi daigaku e ikimasu.) - Yamada is a student. [He] goes to university every day.
Repeating 山田さんは in the second sentence would sound as if you had switched to a different Yamada. Likewise, drop 私は after you have said it once.
Forms & patterns
は or が - the decision table:
| Situation | Particle | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Known, already-mentioned frame | は | その本は面白いです。 (Sono hon wa omoshiroi desu.) |
| Self-introduction, general statement | は | 私は日本人です。 (Watashi wa Nihonjin desu.) |
| New participant, first mention | が | 猫がいます。 (Neko ga imasu.) |
| Question word as subject | が | どれがいいですか。 (Dore ga ii desu ka.) |
| Answer to a が-question | が | これがいいです。 (Kore ga ii desu.) |
| Object of 好き・上手・分かる・ある・ほしい | が | お茶がほしいです。 (Ocha ga hoshii desu.) |
| Subject inside the comment of a topic | が | 象は鼻が長いです。 (Zō wa hana ga nagai desu.) |
Replace or stack:
| Original | With topic は | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 私が (watashi ga) | replaced | 私は (watashi wa) |
| 本を (hon o) | replaced | 本は (hon wa) |
| 部屋に (heya ni) | stacked | 部屋には (heya ni wa) |
| 日本で (Nihon de) | stacked | 日本では (Nihon de wa) |
| 友達と (tomodachi to) | stacked | 友達とは (tomodachi to wa) |
| 駅から (eki kara) | stacked | 駅からは (eki kara wa) |
Examples
- 私は田中です。 (Watashi wa Tanaka desu.) - I am Tanaka.
- あの人は先生ですか。 (Ano hito wa sensei desu ka.) - Is that person a teacher?
- 誰が来ますか。 (Dare ga kimasu ka.) - Who is coming?
- 山田さんが来ます。 (Yamada-san ga kimasu.) - Yamada is coming.
- 公園に猫がいます。 (Kōen ni neko ga imasu.) - There is a cat in the park.
- 私は日本語が分かります。 (Watashi wa Nihongo ga wakarimasu.) - I understand Japanese.
- 田中さんはピアノが上手です。 (Tanaka-san wa piano ga jōzu desu.) - Tanaka is good at the piano.
- 象は鼻が長いです。 (Zō wa hana ga nagai desu.) - Elephants have long trunks.
- 私の部屋にはテレビがあります。 (Watashi no heya ni wa terebi ga arimasu.) - In my room there is a television.
- 教室では日本語を話します。 (Kyōshitsu de wa Nihongo o hanashimasu.) - In the classroom we speak Japanese.
Common mistakes
- 私が学生です。 (Watashi ga gakusei desu.) -> 私は学生です。 (Watashi wa gakusei desu.) - a plain self-introduction takes は; が would mean I am the one who is the student (as opposed to these other people).
- 私は日本語を分かります。 (Watashi wa Nihongo o wakarimasu.) -> 私は日本語が分かります。 (Watashi wa Nihongo ga wakarimasu.) - 分かる takes が, however much English understand looks transitive.
- 猫を好きです。 (Neko o suki desu.) -> 猫が好きです。 (Neko ga suki desu.) - 好き is not a verb but a na-adjective, so what you like is its subject: が.
- 誰は来ますか。 (Dare wa kimasu ka.) -> 誰が来ますか。 (Dare ga kimasu ka.) - a question word is unknown information and can never be a topic.
- 私の部屋はテレビがあります。 (Watashi no heya wa terebi ga arimasu.) -> 私の部屋にはテレビがあります。 (Watashi no heya ni wa terebi ga arimasu.) - は replaces が and を only; a location keeps its に and lets は stack on top.
Tips
- Translate は as “as for”, not as “is”. As for me, student. Clumsy English, but it stops you from treating は as a verb or a subject marker.
- The question test. Ask which word the sentence is answering. If the news is who or what, that word takes が. If the news is what happened about something already known, that something takes は.
- The が-list is short - learn it with the particle attached. 〜が好き, 〜が上手, 〜が分かる, 〜がある, 〜がほしい. Five chunks cover most of A1.
- Silence is grammatical. After the topic is set, a Japanese sentence with no visible subject is not incomplete - it is correct. Adding 私は to every line is the clearest mark of a beginner.