は and が
This article is kind of long and about nuance. I’ve written out the basic rules, but it may be better for you to learn when to use one or the other and develop a feel for は and が on your own.
Simple Rules:
が
- が should always be used for question words.
- が should be used when there is already a topic, i.e. things specific to the topic (adjectives）
- が should always be used to answer が questions.
- が may be used to change the topic (after you have one)
は
- は should be used for marking a topic to talk about.
- は should be used for a general statement (no deeper meaning)
- は should be used if comparing to another topic. (Page not yet made)
Either:
Use が for personal connection and emphasis. “I” will most likely become the implied topic.
Use は for no emphasis, making a topic, and general statements.
- 彼女がかわいい – She’s cute (to me/I think)
- 彼女はかわいい – She’s cute (everyone thinks that/general fact).
More detailed rules
は
は is the topic marker. It marks the topic.
You typically use は when:
- Making something a topic to talk about.
彼女はかわいいですね。 -She’s cute isn’t she? (let’s talk about her) - Describing something as a noun, ie A は Noun です。
かれは きしです – He’s a knight. - Making a generic statement about something in the AはBをC pattern
その人はごはんをたべている – That person is eating. (just a statement) - Comparing things (advanced grammar)
彼はいいけど、この人はもっといい – He’s good, but this person is more good.
が
が(ga) is the subject marker for Japanese. It marks the subject of a sentence, i.e. the main focus of the sentence. It tends to shift emphasis to the subject.
You typically use が when:
- Using a question word
だれがやりました –who did it? - specifying something specific (i.e. answering a question)
わたしがやりました – I did it. - When giving things about a specific subject, i.e. Adjectives/States (*most of the time)
ねこがかわいい – Cats are cute.
えんぴつがない – There’s no pencils.
かれがきしです – He’s a knight (almost like answering a question about who/what a knight is)
Comparing は and が
は is broad and sets up a topic for a conversation.
が is narrow and specific, and answers specific questions or indicates a narrow focus.
- かれはつよい – He is strong. (statement) (possibly comparing to someone else)
- かれがつよい – He is strong. (not someone else) (I think he’s strong)
- ねこはすき- cats are liked but…(not something else, something else more)— Do not use this pattern until you are more advanced.
- ねこがすき – I like cats. (I like cats, no statement about anything else) (99% of the time this is が）
- かれはきしです – He is a knight (statement)
- かれがきしです – He is a knight. (HE is a knight) (He is the definition of a knight)
- これはえんぴつです – This is a pencil
- これがえんぴつです – This is what a pencil is.
- しごとはつまらない – work is boring.
- しごとがつまらない – work is boring (to me)
This is a pretty hard topic, so here’s some additional reading:
Source 1 (more concise, but somewhat less helpful)
Source 2 (really wordy)