21
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Why does 悪く(は)ない give a condescending feeling?
I think it may sound condescending because it sounds like you have the right to say something is clearly bad. Typically, you can directly say 悪く(は)ない to someone when you judge their performance/...
- 306k
16
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Why is this sentence ungrammatical? 「お寺が公園のとなりです。」
In this case, が is incorrect because you are conveying a known piece of information. When you describe a known or general fact about a subject (お寺), you have to mark it with は, making it the topic of ...
- 306k
15
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"Te-form" versus "masu-stem + して" (消しているうちに versus 消ししているうちに)
A (te-form) + は + B (masu-form) is a common pattern that describes someone repeatedly/habitually does B right after A as a paired action. See: 〜しては is this a grammar pattern? This set is often ...
- 306k
15
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What could a phrase like アルコールはダメなんだ possibly mean?
It means "I'm not good with alcohol" or "I don't like alcohol". Of course it can also mean "Alcohol is not good (for your health)" and "Alcohol is prohibited (in this event)", depending on the context....
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13
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Why say "〜、皆には出来る。" instead of " 〜、皆は出来る。" in this context?
The に form is the "base" sentence here, and the は is added for emphasis.
One key to understanding how できる happens grammatically is that できる is often describing the thing that can be done, instead of ...
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12
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Does は mean 'at least' in this sentence?
You're correct, this kind of は means "at least".
3個は食べられる。 I can eat at least three.
ここに3人はいる。 There are at least three people here.
3時間は待つ必要がある。 We have to wait at least for three hours.
Of course ...
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10
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は and を or の and わ
I think you probably meant to write:
私は日本語が悪いです。(Lit. As for me, Japanese is bad.)
私の日本語は悪いです。(Lit. My Japanese is bad.)
The word 悪い is a literal translation of the English 'bad'. In Japanese, ...
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10
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Why is "konnichi wa" written with は and not わ?
There are some lingering question marks in the initial post and in the other answers regarding why は is read as /wa/ in こんにちは.
Other posters have already noted that this は is the topic particle -- ...
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10
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次の「普通」What does it mean?
B is is saying:
It's the next (local) train that you need to take / is going to Tokyo.
There is no explicit topic in this sentence.
The person replied to A's question with いいえ、行きません。 and added a ...
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The difference between 時 and 時は
子供の時、よく海で泳ぎました。
子供の時は、よく海で泳ぎました。
You might say the latter to imply...
"I used to swim in the sea in my childhood (but now I don't anymore)."
Here, the は is functioning as the contrastive ...
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10
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Is くらい required in 「牛乳ぐらいは買ってください」?
牛乳は買ってください。
牛乳ぐらいは買ってください。
The difference of the two sentences is probably bigger than you might imagine.
は is fundamentally a contrast marker that sometimes can be translated as "at least" ...
- 306k
9
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Combinatorical relative clauses
A can have two meanings.
One is the meaning of A', the other is of B'.
Actually, I took A as the same meaning as B' when I read at first.
When you say "歌{うた}が好{す}きな彼{かれ}が...", I understand that ...
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Function of は in にはなる
It modifies 好きになれなかった and adds an emphasis that the statement relates only to 好きに.
To explain by example,
気持ち悪くはなかったけど、ちょっとしんどかった
美味しくはなかったけど、まずくもなかった
In both cases は is used to signify that you ...
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9
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Why say "〜、皆には出来る。" instead of " 〜、皆は出来る。" in this context?
Reason for using「は」
The「は」provides contrast. It provides an unspoken (in English) and contrasting parenthetical context as shown below.
日本語の読み書きは皆にはできません。
Not everyone can read and write ...
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Use は or が with ある when the phrase doesn't explicit the place
The basic difference is already covered in this question: What's the difference between wa (は) and ga (が)?
The following is a brief summary. As you can see in the above link, each sentence has ...
- 306k
9
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When sentences have several clauses with several subjects/topics, do they use more than one "ga" or "wa"?
Where do you have to set the topic or subject markers "wa" and "ga" in sentences with several clauses?
Somewhere before the predicate the subject corresponds to. To put it very simply, Japanese ...
- 306k
8
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が in subordinate clauses
僕が好きな動物 actually can mean both, the animal that I like and the animal that likes me. But to mean the former it often becomes 僕の好きな動物, and to mean the latter it often becomes 僕のことが好きな動物 or 僕を好きな動物. In ...
- 306k
8
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Use は or が with ある when the phrase doesn't explicit the place
To add to @Naruto's brilliant answer:
When asked "What's there? / What do you have?" (なにがありますか？), you'll reply with (C) つくえがあります, not つくえは...*
When asked "Are there any desks? / Do you have a desk?" ...
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8
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How does 最初の何年かは work here?
[何年]{なんねん}か means "a few / several years" (≂ [数年]{すうねん})
cf:
[何日]{なんにち}か ≂ [数日]{すうじつ} "a few / several days"
[何人]{なんにん}か ≂ [数人]{すうにん} "a few / several people"
[何回]{なんかい}か ≂ [数回]{すうかい} "a few ...
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8
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Accepted
Does 私は地震が怖い make sense?
私は地震が怖い。lit. As for me, earthquakes are scary. → I am scared of earthquakes.
Your sentence is correct and natural.
が is used with several adjectives that indicate one's feelings, e.g. 「怖い」「欲しい」「...
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