The Difference Between wa and ga

[tvducky]

「肉は食べませんが魚は食べます」

niku wa tabemasen ga sakana wa tabemasu

[giampyonni]

when u said tht stuff about many subjects in a sentence, should I say something like "猫はと犬が食べる" to say "the cat and the dog eat"??? I'm sorry but i'm tryin' to learn japanese but I can't get many of these grammar stuff :S

[daiquirikiss]

@giampyonni If you mention two main subjects... then you can say 猫と犬は（が）食べる。 It'll be が if you haven't made any mention of the animals before in your previous conversation. If you've been talking about the two animals before hand then you can use は.

[daiquirikiss]

@daiquirikiss I should mention that the two main subjects are doing the same thing... that's why they don't get their own subject marker. They share it. In my more complex sentence example, "Lisa saw the cat eat the bird." Lisa has her own verb. The cat has it's own verb. The bird is being used... not a main subject, so it gets を. That's why they get their own subject markers.

[giampyonni]

@daiquirikiss oh I c!! thank u ;)

[mach1email]

Thanks for this video. It's very helpful!

[l9h8y]

thanks for your video, would you like to make a video on teaching the prounciation on らりるれろ and なにぬねの ?

[hartstaken22]

was it hard to learn all the symbols?and to know when to use them in your writing.

[daiquirikiss]

@hartstaken22 it is challenging, but the more you use them and read them, the more you get it. It just takes practice and dedication.

[benitofinito]

This made it worst for me to understand!?!

[micheal100000]

sayounara??

 there are other formal and informal ways to say goodbye.

[SuperOriginalFlow]

Thank you so much :)

[Trehaze]

FIRST OF ALL!

you.... are... gorgeous.

second

I love your lisp lol i think i have a fetish....

third

how should i approach japanese?

i've learned ALOT of words but i have NO idea how to form sentences.

[muffininacup]

今はさ毎週もレポートを書かなきゃならないけど、確かに「は」と­「が」の使い方のが難しい、てかめんどうくさいよね

ちなみに僕日本人じゃないけど、今日本で留学してる。だから日本­語でレポートとか作文を書くとき絶対に「は」と「が」の区別のは­いやだ。笑

[JmeA468]

at the end of your video you said sayunara, if you say sayunara ←(probably mispelled) wouldn't that mean bye for a long period of time?

I think you ment "matane" see you latter..I think... teehee

(^-^)b

will you marry me :D

[daiquirikiss]

@JmeA468 not necessarily. "sayonara" is also a politer way of saying goodbye, even if the case is I'd see you again later. I wouldn't ever say, "mata ne" to my superior at work. It's too casual.

and no, I won't marry you.

[JmeA468]

@daiquirikiss yeah your right on that but my experience with the Japanese tell me that when your good friends with someone you say Mata ne because you wanna sound human not like a perfect grammar robot.. in our case we are your friends no? like umm we the viewers aren't really superior to you.. so you would say mata ne :]

oh DUHH I was juss kidding why marry if we dont know each other will you go on a date with meee?

[daiquirikiss]

@JmeA468 no, sorry. No dating my youtube viewers. It's my rule. And again, formalism isn't used just with superiors. It's also used when you're talking to people you don't know. And honestly, especially in a Japanese sense, I don't know you. I don't know your names or even what your faces look like. So I'm talking to the masses in a general sense. It's not like English when I'm trying to be your friend, it's me trying to be polite to you because I'm using Japanese, and if I said "mata ne"....

[daiquirikiss]

@daiquirikiss ...generally speaking, it would be offensive and strange. (ran out of room)

[JmeA468]

@daiquirikiss Ok I get it thanks :]

and I dont think dating would have worked out anyways... you know me being in Mexico you in Japan :[ but I might go to Japan soon tell me when you change that rule n.n

[mibella]

Lol.. you are soo funny and cute.. in a quirky way.. You remind me of my friend ryan kinoshita!

[SUPER77LOVELY77BEAMS]

｢リサは鳥が猫を食べることを見ました。｣Yes,nice sentence and grammar.BUT

(positive)リサは鳥が猫を食べる"の"を見ました。

(negative)リサは鳥が猫を食べる"の"を見なかった、­or " こと"を見なかった。

We tend to use "の"when positive sentence. Because "こと"is little Emphasis than "の".Yes,this method is almost same "は"and"が" .

～の　is "wa" ～こと　is "ga"

｢私は猫が鳥を食べるのを見た。｣ ^^I think It is better.

[daiquirikiss]

@SUPER77LOVELY77BEAMS Learn something new everyday!! Thanks!! That's something my Japanese professor wouldn't be able to tell me.

[dragonballz0]

@daiquirikiss Thank you guys, I guess different professors focus on different aspects of the Japanese language. :)

[FluorescentBulb]

This has been by far the most helpful explanation of particles I have heard yet, Your awesome, and thank you. Subscribed.

[shylildude]

genki is the best

[Raymasaki]

i like this example

sumimasen ga - excuse me But (new subject)

I hate the fact that WA わ uses the HA は hiragana

& NO where els does it. its easy to remeber tghe one rule But

its odd. Everything els in JP Grammar i understand & makes sense.

[qtiestudio]

this confuses me so much... i've been hearing all this time that "wa" introduces the new topic, not "ga". :(

All the other examples match what i've heard though. Great video, i am so glad i found your channel!

[teruchuu]

Thank you very much for your explanation, it really helped! :D

I have a question though, if you don't mind me asking... I recently got my hands on the Genki books, and was wondering where I should start, since I'm learning/studying on my own. There's so much to learn!

Please let me know, I would really appreciate it! :)

[daiquirikiss]

@teruchuu start at the very first page of the red book. :-p

[Reisyukaku]

i hate rosetta stone.. it confuses me

[Raymasaki]

@Reisyukaku Rosetta stone isnt "confusing"

its Boring its just flash cards & is WAY Over priced.

Never mind what their comercials say, they LIE

[XxTMNTuploaderxX]

@Raymasaki Rosetta stone isn't confusing nor boring. Well, if you already know some basics, it can be pretty boring, but nobody said you have to do the whole thing. I just skip through things I know. Mostly, you should be nought with the first and last part of each lesson, as well as, of course, the milestone at the end of each unit. You get a very nice vocabular there, as well as how to use some stuff. And I never though of it as fleshcards. Byki is flashcards, so it kinda sucks.

[anotsofamiliarface]

ehhhhhhhh, I think Rosetta Stone is worth it.

[10405]

Shes pretty...................

[dan892k7]

I have Rosetta stone, but don't worry, I didn't pay for it :-p. How I love thee Piratebay ^_^

[Crzeimasha]

skip to 1:48 to start hearing the differences. lol

[chisuteru488]

良いと可愛い先生ですね。頑張れ！

really good to have ppl out there who are outgoing and willing to share

admire your courage!

[dragonballz0]

This was extremely useful. I was able to see the differences in Japanese dramas I've seen and can easily notice the differences. Thank you so much for this video, It explained a lot. ^_^

[MrHadi127]

Seriously thank you so much u just made me get it perfectly thank you very much !!!

[MrHadi127]

I love you seriously u got me to understand it perfectly THANK YOU SO MUCH AFTER 3 OR 4 DAYS OF SEARCHING U MADE MY DAY !!

[TheCrazyStudent]

1:53 "Ok, you use "wa" as a subject marker right? We already know that."

No, I don't know that, because that's incorrect. :P I can not believe that so many people make this mistake. "Wa" is the TOPIC marker. The topic can be the subject, yes, but not necessarily. The real subject marker is "ga". When "wa" is used, it's because the topic of the sentence is being marked. That is the role of "wa". Sometimes the topic is the subject, but sometimes the object or something else is the topic.

[GloriousOtaku]

the object-particle for wakaru is always ga, is it?

[TheCrazyStudent]

@GloriousOtaku

Your question doesn't make much sense. The object particle is "wo" (also romanized as "o"), whereas "ga" is the subject particle.

"Is 'wo' = 'ga'?"

Is A = B? Of course not. :)

Also, there is no such thing as "the object particle for wakaru", because "wakaru" is a intransitive verb and can not take an object.

"wakaru" does NOT mean "to understand [object]" but rather "[subject] is understood"

"nihongo ga wakarimasu" = "Japanese is understood" = I understand Japanese.

[GloriousOtaku]

''Lisa saw a cat who ate a bird'' is it?

[lslewis]

Many thanks. This was helpful and I used Genki in a class. Genki is awesome!

[DisturbedGirMonkeyz]

We have the same glasses. xD

And thanks! I have been having trouble with "ga".

[1wer1]

Thanks this video helps alot

[cromos]

You're a very good teacher :)

[EsperTinaVI]

@aoiahiru your sentence mean "I like peaches" "watashi [I] ga sukina [like] no ha momo [peaches]. Or rather, it would mean "i like the peach" peaches would be "momotachi" tachi makes objects plural. "Peaches are what i like most" i'm not sure how to translate that but, meh, "わたし は 桃もっとも が すき." yeah i have no idea what i just said. sorry.

[CatzDaLegit]

Thank you :p

[dldavenport2008]

yeah i've found that it's harder for native speakers to teach their language than it is for non-native speakers to teach it. it's ironic, but i guess it makes sense, b/c the native-speakers have a hard time explaining something they came to understand thru growing up in a culture. it's like they're are the logical reasons for word choice, and then there are the not-so-easy-to-get word choices that you just know simply b/c you're used to it. that's how english is in many cases.

[Vigi1antGuardian]

Good one Miko. 9:23-9:57! lol

[TiramisuHappy]

"Ga goes on forever. But Wa has a limit."

That's probably why I don't hang out with Ga too much... lol!

Haha, gomen! Kudaranai joke...

I'm a native speaker and I didn't even know the delicate difference between the two. They just come out naturally without you thinking about it, ya know? That's definitely the advantage of being raised bilingual... Nice tutorial video!

[SandJDavies]

lucky.... T^T, I still don't get it.

[Tsunehikokiyou]

Thanks a lot for the info on wa and ga.How about 'he' ,'ni' and 'de'?Is 'he' for places and 'de' to indicate actions?

[PeAripileVantului23]

Thank you , another mysterious thing was revealed ^o^. Btw you were merciless with the birdie 'sob'. Also even if I can't get 'genki',japanese movies are good teachers both in language and culture.

[joseph15moore]

thanks - your right about the rosetta stone because everyone says it sucks at grammer.

an i guess it could pay for collage.

[daiquirikiss]

well no... it couldn't. I was exaggerating. But really.. paying $500 for a program you might as well invest more for a class at a community college.

[xynomrah]

Thank you, this helps! Also I agree about Rosetta Stone... I have the software, and it's great for learning vocab (not so much grammar). But there are other resources which are just as good or better, and much cheaper.

[osu]

Nice Lesson. I have a question about yourself. You listen to eclectic music, right?

[daiquirikiss]

no i dont

[dldavenport2008]

"'ga' goes on forever!!!" LOL!!!

[materite]

This was unexpectedly useful. I always wondered when to use them and when not to and it feels like my teacher would never come around to explaining it as good as you did. Probably because she is a native speaker and for her it is natural when to use は and when to use が.

[daiquirikiss]

yea, this is why i think it's always great to have two kinds of Japanese teachers: the one who's native and the one who learned it like you are learning now.

[bly0forte]

日本語が母国語なんで「が」と「は」って何が違うのか良くわかん­ないで使ってました。

感覚的には、「が」は「は」より強い（強調）って感じで使ってま­す。

[jnavarro30975]

I was meaning to ask you on this. Even though I had asked my teacher, she only explained that you use them when using question words and for their responses. So thank you so much

[watcher8o]

Thanks!