All Questions
Tagged with particle-wa or particle-は
442 questions
5
votes
1
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986
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Asking "what time is it in Japan？", what particle?
First let me say that I know that there are similar threads, this in particular. There are some things I still want to make clear. So, it appears that the most natural way to ask the question in the ...
- 393
0
votes
1
answer
80
views
What is this usage of には (NSfW language usage warning)
The character gets called a やりちん because he has many girls. So he says I'm not that! And then he adds this. Is he saying he has a compatibility with a specific person? Or is it akin "You need ...
- 2,151
0
votes
1
answer
101
views
Can you use 晩ご飯 as a time indicator?
So, after some years I'm back to the process of studying Japanese. I've come across the following sentence:
晩ご飯はレストランで食べました。
Although the meaning is clear, upon reading I was perplexed about the ...
- 393
2
votes
1
answer
208
views
What is this usage of ことが過ぎる? (NSFW warning i guess)
そんな風に考えていると、青戸の押し殺した笑いが耳を擽った。
それはどこか獣欲めいて、初めて体を重ねた時のことが過ぎる。
The character is thinking this after her lover teases her.
"Aoto tickled my ear with a stiffed smile"
"With the appearance ...
- 2,151
1
vote
1
answer
93
views
neutral-description when X(が) is variously modified
The following is from this guide to が versus は:
Below are subjects that are within the universe of discourse by
default: [...]
Subjects modified with additional information, such as この / その / あの,
今日の,...
- 530
1
vote
1
answer
105
views
neutral-description が / は when Xが is variously modified
I'm looking for clarification about a passage from this guide about が VS は on Reddit. I'm going to use some technical terms from Susumu Kuno's "The Structure of the Japanese Language, Chapter II....
- 530
1
vote
1
answer
70
views
ことには usage in this sentence?
"もう――戻りますよ" 光は踵を返した。
部署に戻ることにはお互い落ち着いて、この感情は抑え込まれているのだろうけれど.
Hikari says "Let's go back"
But then I don't understand what the narration is implying? What is this usage of ことには? &...
- 2,151
1
vote
1
answer
61
views
usage of は in this passage (instead of を)
The following is a excerpt from a podcast. The speaker has been sick and hasn't been releasing podcasts as often as usual. I would like to focus on the three occurences of は I put in bold:
...
- 530
1
vote
1
answer
294
views
Subject and particle in 彼は来ると思う
In English, we could say "I think he will come" using the pronoun "I", but in Japanese it's omitted. I know it's not common, but if 私 is being omitted, what particle should be ...
- 846
2
votes
2
answers
123
views
What does とはなる here mean?
都民からの税金で[賄]{まかな}われていると言えば、結局自分たちの支払いだとはなるけど
The character is a government official that ponders who is paying them... Given they also reside in Tokyo he concludes they are paying themselves .
- 2,151
0
votes
1
answer
56
views
What is this usage of には?
声をかけるには空気が張り詰めている。あたしは黙って、美織を見守ることにした。
"空気が張り詰めている。あたしは黙って、美織を見守ることにした。" is the atmosphere is too tense, so I stay silent and decided to watch over Miori.
What is this usage of には?
- 2,151
1
vote
1
answer
117
views
という意味で what does it mean?
女子: 警子ちゃん、これから寝るまでって何してるんだ？
警子: 別に何も……明日の予習くらいか
女子: だよなぁ……
警子: 分かっている。私達にはそれしかないのだ。
女子: だけれども、ここに１年長くいるという意味では先輩の警子から、何かしらヒントが欲しかったのもまた事実で。
So the protagonist asks 警子 what she does in her free time ...
- 2,151
0
votes
1
answer
175
views
のは and は after nouns [duplicate]
I read about the grammar of のは in the text and wanted to clarify something here. This can be used to express 2 different meanings:
The reason for [A] is [B].
Doing [A] is [B].
With the first meaning, ...
- 91
4
votes
1
answer
467
views
Analysis of a sentence with a double -は
I have a problem with the following sentence from Saito's Japanese Folktales for Language Learners: Legends and Fables in Japanese and English. I'm interested in breaking down the sentence ...
- 715
1
vote
1
answer
106
views
Question about には and は
I know this question had already been answered on this site, but I need someone to help me understand it in a specific context.
This is a sentence from my Shin Kanzen Master N3 textbook:
林先生の授業（____）、...
2
votes
1
answer
160
views
Can this case of “〜は” be replaced by “〜を”?
I saw a rather interesting sentence:
ミンメイ様は客は兄様しか取っていなかったらしい
In particular, the use of “客は兄様しか” interests me as the “〜は” does not seem to be contrastive and “客は” comes before “兄様しか”, seemingly ...
- 2,092
1
vote
2
answers
454
views
Difference between ウナギは魚だ and ウナギが魚だ
What's the difference between these two sentences?
I know that the particle は is used to topicalize things. Maybe when は is used, the sentence will have different meanings, not just "Eels are ...
- 107
0
votes
1
answer
232
views
"I hate him" = 彼が嫌い or 彼は嫌い? Ambiguity regarding the target of the sentence
I apologize if this is a dumb question. I think I'm having a total brainfart here, but this is something I've been wondering since some time ago now.
If I wanna say, "I hate him!", which one ...
- 11
1
vote
2
answers
117
views
Introducing an explicit subject into a sentence with a topic already existing
Consider for instance the following sentence:
わかった、忠告ありがとう。でも、ミコトがどんな子かは自分で見定める。
The obvious context is that someone has been warned about ill behavior of his new friend by others but wants to make ...
- 2,092
0
votes
2
answers
97
views
Why is there a 'は' in these sentences, forming double particles?
家では勉強できません。図書館でも勉強できません。
東京には、たくさん人がいます。
Can I drop the は in these two sentences?
- 140
1
vote
2
answers
237
views
Why is ‘は’ instead of 'が' or 'を' used here?
I saw a sentence:
これは、オンラインで聞けますか。
Why is ‘は’ instead of 'が' or 'を' used here? I think the full sentence should be like the following.
あなたはこれが/を、オンラインで聞けますか。
- 140
1
vote
2
answers
167
views
Are questions ending in は polite or plain?
On my grammar textbook, there is a part about the possibility to ask a question with just the topic and は, for example:
お仕事は?
That can mean "what is your job?" or "how is work?".
...
- 75
0
votes
1
answer
74
views
The use of causative + には in this sentence
Upon asking the group if they had a bad experience in the village, they deny and she says this.
I understand the first sentence is akin "Starting with the royal family, the village is quite ...
- 1,867
0
votes
1
answer
153
views
Any difference between とは思う and と思う?
When expressing a thought, can とは思う and と思う be used interchangeably, or is there a more specific reason to choose one over the other?
0
votes
2
answers
77
views
How does the nounはnounでも works?
揚げ物は揚げ物でも天ぷらっていってね
Upon the other character pointing out this is 揚げ物 the character explains this. What kind of nuance does the repeated noun give
- 2,151
-6
votes
2
answers
310
views
Nonsense sentences with だ
I recently encountered these sentences which must be nonsense because AはBだ means 'A is B'.
私は１０５号室だ
「ノルウェーの森」は村上春樹だ
東京は初めてだ
- 910
0
votes
0
answers
134
views
Understanding ~たのでは "Conditionals"
I recently came across a sentence containing ~たのでは I found quite hard to parse, and I wanted to focus more on just its ~たのでは aspect to make a more focused question.
So consider:
「彼が来なかったのでは、何も始まらない。」
...
- 2,970
1
vote
3
answers
142
views
Clarification about particle は
I had to translate these 2 questions:
"Is this Chinese (language)?"
"Is this sake?"
And I translated in this way:
それは中国語ですか。
それは酒ですか。
But the book solutions were
それ中国語ですか。
...
- 75
1
vote
1
answer
52
views
What is the use ようとは + passive?
おそまつな警備だな
これで俺を捕まえようとは舐められたもんだ
My vague understanding of the sentence is akin to "Ill prepared defenses. If they are attempting to catch me with that, they are looking down on me."
However ...
- 1,867
0
votes
1
answer
94
views
Trouble understanding context switching / setting in a Famitsu article
I started reading this Famitsu article about a new headset that is releasing soon. But I'm having trouble understanding how context or subject swapping / setting works in general.
I probably have a ...
- 2,062
1
vote
1
answer
133
views
Is this sentence correct「小説は読みます」?
Is this sentence correct?
小説は読みます
I've learned that は is a topic marker not an object marker. In this case it's acting as an object marker to 小説 since 読む is transitive a verb.
Now according to the ...
- 389
1
vote
2
answers
392
views
Would it be gramatically correct to say 学校は行きます as opposed to 学校に行きます
My understanding is that 学校は行きます would mean: As for school, I will go there.
While 学校に行きます is: I will go to school.
But is this the first sentence ever used? Or even grammatically correct?
- 25
1
vote
1
answer
95
views
I'm having trouble understanding the usage of 特に...もっとですね, and 15回以上は
From Sakura Tips podcast episode 615. パッキング, there is a transcript to the podcast. I'm having difficulty understanding due to my confusion regarding word/phrase ordering.
Original transcript:
...
- 145
0
votes
0
answers
100
views
Could I use わたしのうちには ペットが いません 。instead of わたしのうえ に ペット は いません。
I've learned the expressions:
(Location) の (position) には ありません/いません。 and
(location) に (noun) は ありません/いません。
and I'm kinda wondering whether I could use には with location nouns too? Or does it only ...
- 1
1
vote
1
answer
116
views
Double/Triple 'wa' particles in a sentence
I'm having trouble parsing the following example sentence from an online Japanese-English dictionary:
女性はレスリングは好まないが男性はふつうに好きだ。
Can someone explain to me how to make sense of the sentence? I'm ...
- 11
4
votes
1
answer
404
views
Appearance of が after a て form
In the game Persona 3, a teacher says this while talking about a poet they like as opposed to one being mentioned in the textbook:
…葛西もいいけど、先生、 最近は窪田空穂にハマってるのよね。 歌人としてが有名だけど、 随筆もとってもいいのよ。
I don't ...
- 361
0
votes
1
answer
79
views
what does かは convey?
Here's the context: それについて、見てくれる人がどう思うかは、私は、コントロールできないから手放そうと思いました。
2
votes
1
answer
221
views
Why are there multiple topic markers (は) in this sentence?
To be clear, my level of Japanese is about as elementary as it gets, so it's possible that this question is simply beyond my understanding. Still worth an ask, though!
I was looking at the Wiktionary ...
- 121
1
vote
2
answers
211
views
A proposed tool about the use of は and が and about the use of "the" and "a" in English
UPDATE: Based on the discussion below, I now see that my proposal is not valid. But still, I want to make a clarification about the following proposal, anyway. Just please keep in mind that I'm ...
- 137
1
vote
1
answer
285
views
Does the contrastive は always rise in pitch?
At 3:03 the speaker says
この人は
I could be wrong, but it sounds like she's saying this as "koNOHITOWA" rather than "koNOHITOwa".
According to my bilingual dictionary, Heiban is not ...
- 2,970
0
votes
1
answer
163
views
What is the exact meaning of はな in the sentence: 「世の中的にはな。」
In order to understand the meaning of this sentence:
"まぁうん 一応 世の中的にはな。"
I put the complete conversation below:
Son: 「大人」って何？「大人」ってどういうこと？
Father: 大人？
Son: うん 親父 大人だろ？
Father: まぁうん 一応 ...
- 133
0
votes
1
answer
127
views
What is the function of じゃ at the end of this sentence
I know the meaning of the whole sentence but what is the function and meaning of じゃ at the end of the sentence:
お巡りさんには関係ありません じゃ
I checked on the internet and maybe じゃ means "I guess".
- 133
1
vote
1
answer
209
views
Difference between ことが and ことは
What is the difference in the meanings of the following sentences when 事がある is replaced with 事はある?
週末はたいてい家で休んでいるがたまに公園に行く事がある。
週末はたいてい家で休んでいるがたまに公園に行く事はある。
I could find the grammar form ことがある in ...
- 113
1
vote
1
answer
130
views
は vs が when the subject is modified by a relative clause
Please note that the question is not whether the subject in a relative clause should be followed by は or が. (In that case I am aware that the thematic は cannot be used.)
I was reading section II.2, Wa ...
- 221
2
votes
1
answer
126
views
What is the difference when I swap が and は in this sentence
I want to know if my first translation of a sentence is wrong and more importantly why.
I'm using Duolingo as one of a couple tools for learning Japanese.
Today I got the sentence "The coffee ...
- 23
3
votes
2
answers
108
views
で・と・が・は - Nuance
ボブと戦ってる
Fighting with Bob (Against Bob/Bob is fighting someone, and that same someone is fighting Bob)
ボブが戦ってる
Bob is fighting
ボブたちが戦ってる
Bob and them are fighting (not necessarily together nor ...
- 557
5
votes
2
answers
299
views
Is くらい required in 「牛乳ぐらいは買ってください」?
A tutorial on the は-particle provides the following sentence:
牛乳ぐらいは買ってください。
At least buy milk, please.
The author then notes:
Grammar Note: The particle kurai/gurai くらい・ぐらい is frequently used with ...
- 2,970
0
votes
1
answer
86
views
What is the correct way to use ”には” as a particle? Also how credible is Duolingo?
How credible is Duolingo? I've heard many bad things about its grammar in Asian languages so I just wanted to see if they got this specific thing right. One of the Questions it asked was how to ...
3
votes
3
answers
118
views
紅茶がコーヒーより美味しいと思う
A native speaker corrected a learner's sentence from
やっぱり紅茶はコーヒーより美味しいと思う
to
やっぱり紅茶がコーヒーより美味しいと思う
I think 紅茶はコーヒーより美味しい sounds perfectly natural.
Using は with 思う also seems to be commonplace which ...
- 11.6k
0
votes
0
answers
41
views
What does とは do in this sentence 「ちなみに俺はどちらも見ようとは思わない」 [duplicate]
From Quintessential Quintuplets (Season 2, ep.3, 9:30)
Character A was describing movies that they saw to someone when Character B said this about those movies.
ちなみに俺はどちらも見ようとは思わない
If I were to try ...
- 341