「が」(1) Mark the subject

「が」(1) Mark the subject

が​ is one of the most important particles in Japanese and is used in almost every sentence.

But what exactly are particles?

Particles indicate the relationships between words in sentences, clarifying the roles of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and phrases. They do not have meaning in isolation but are crucial for sentence structure and nuance. By attaching to a word, each particle provides essential information about the function of that word in the sentence and can signal what might come next. The particle で​, when attached to a place, indicates that some kind of action occurs there. The particle に​, when attached to a place, can show that it's the target of movement. In this way, every particle provides significant information about the role each word plays in a sentence.

The particles が​ and は​ are commonly used but have nuanced differences. Mastery of these particles often develops gradually through exposure to the language. This lesson will cover the primary uses of が​.

Let's begin by looking at three of the fundamental uses of が​.

The most basic usage of が​ is to mark the subject of a sentence.

The subject of a sentence is the person or thing that:

When が​ marks a word as the subject of the sentence, it is also very frequently used to introduce that subject into the conversation. However, once a subject has already been introduced, it will then usually be marked with は​. Just keep this point in mind when you are later interacting with Japanese content so that you can begin to grasp how が​ is used.

が​ is also used with question words like 誰(だれ) who or 何(なに) what. These question words refer to unknown people or things, and similarly to how が​ is used to mark a subject unknown to the listener, it is also used to mark an unknown subject to the speaker when making an inquiry about it.

が​ also often carries the nuance of making a statement about the subject in exclusion to other people or things. For example, look at the following dialogue:

In B's reply, 彼女(かのじょ) is marked with the particle が​. In this situation, が​ is not being used to introduce 彼女(かのじょ) as a new subject. Instead, が​ is being used to make a statement that only She is a/the president among others who may be present and relevant to the conversation. That is, が​ is both being used to specify who the president is and, at the same time, that the other people are not presidents.

Special Note

In Japanese, particles are called 助詞(じょし).

Formation