What Are The Particles は and が?
“It does not matter how slow you go so long as you do not stop.” – Confucius
There’s one common definition of the particles は and が that you’ll see over and over, and that definition is the following:
は and が indicate subjects by coming after them.
If you’re not a grammar Nazi, you probably don’t know what subject means (I know I didn’t, so don’t feel bad). In this definition, the “subject” really just refers to the “topic” of a conversation. The topic is just whatever you’re talking about. For example, the following sentences have their “subject” in bold.
- The tree is green
- The dog that ate the cat is back
- My friend who saw the ghost last night is staying at our house tonight
The subject, in theory, could be really really long, depending on how comfortable you are with run-on sentences.
Now, think back to the particle は (hopefully you don’t have to think back too far, right?). Look at the above sentences again, and then re-read the definition of は and が. These particles are indicating what the “subject” (the bolded parts) is by coming after them. Let’s look at the sentences one more time, this time switching out the “is” with our Japanese particle は.
- The tree は green
- The dog that ate the cat は back
- My friend who saw the ghost last night は staying at our house tonight
So, do you feel comfortable with this grammar-heavy chapter still? One thing to note before moving on is that the definition for both は and が were the same … the thing is, though, they’re different, and not the same, even though the definition holds true for both of them.