Tagged Questions
4
votes
1answer
96 views
What's the difference between ことがある or ことはある?
In Tae Kim's guide, he wrote a few example sentences:
徹夜して、宿題することはある。
一人で行くことはありません。
パリに行ったことはありますか。
お寿司を食べたことがある。
そういうのを見たことがなかった。
In these examples, I don't really understand why some sentences ...
6
votes
4answers
294 views
Analyzing sentences like 日本がピンチだ and 明日は雨だ
How are sentences like 日本がピンチだ (Japan is in a pinch) and 明日は雨だ (tomorrow it will rain) analyzed?
Translating them trivially, as
日本がピンチだ Japan is a pinch
明日は雨だ Tomorrow is rain
doesn't make ...
8
votes
3answers
315 views
Problems with は and が
Consider:
[A] 猫が好きだ
To me this means [A']"I like cats."
Contrast this to:
[B] 猫は好きだ
To me this means [B']"I like cats (among other animals)"
I based my understanding of [B] from Derek ...
5
votes
3answers
814 views
How do I say “I am the best” ? の,は or が and 私 or 俺?
I'm making a shirt for a (rather egotistical) friend of mine and so am trying to do something with the slogan "I am the best" for fun. I need something with four characters only, and would like to ask ...
2
votes
1answer
107 views
Extracting from, and introducing to Universe of Discourse using は and が with こそあど-demonstratives
Consider the following:
このりんご（ は / が ）食べないでください。
Person A: どちらが東ですか。
Person B： こちら（ は / が ）東です。
Workbook answers are は for 1. and が for 2.
In 1., I would expect the person to ...
41
votes
4answers
2k views
What's the difference between wa (は) and ga (が)?
When is it correct to use は but not が, and when is it correct to use が but not は? Are there any times when you can use either without changing the meaning of the sentence? In other cases, how does ...
