Particles and their usage, especially de/ga/wa.

[Alter]

Hello! I have been learning japanese and I don't feel like I fully understand what wa meant anymore after I got introduced to ga. and I get confused now on what to use and where. I used to assume that wa always prioritized the subject before it (watashi wa), but recently when I learnt ga, it also indicates the subject before it? which confuses me and makes me unsure off what each mean when I see them, and when and how to use them. ( for example, eego ga yoku wakarimasu is in the textbook, but why can't it be a wa? unless it can, and in that case whats the difference?). as for de, I don't really grasp it as well, I know you can use it for when you use things, such as chopsticks or scissors, or for transport, but I feel like there more to it. thanks for any help or insight.

 

[thomas]

Welcome to the forum!

Please find a few related threads listed below:

Ga: subject marker and Wa: topic marker

What exactly are the difference between them? And when are they used? I need an explanation on this.

jref.com

Problem of particles (wo and wa/ga)

Hi there. Okay, I'm having a problem with my particles - more specifically, when to use wa/ga and when to use 'wo' in certain situations. I thought I had 'wo' understood. It follows the direct object of a verb if the verb has one. I know that 'ga' is used for certain things such as 'imasu'...

jref.com

Quick and Dirty Guide to Wa and Ga

Here's a good link. Enjoy. Quick and Dirty Guide to Wa and Ga ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Quick and Dirty Guide to Wa and Ga Last revised Aug 30, 2000. (Thanks much to Bart-sensei for constructive observations in sci.lang.japan) Note: This documents requires a...

jref.com

What is the difference between the particles wa and ga?

Could someone explain it to me? Or show me a website that does? Thank you, ~dee dee

jref.com

Particles

Something my friend told me a few years ago: ga - ga also means the the word is the subject, but is not used as often as wa. There are certain times when you have to use ga, but we're not that far yet o - sometimes written as "wo." o means that the word is the object of the sentence...

jref.com

Please help! Struggling to understand a few things about the particles- "ga" が and "wa"は

I started learning japanese about a week ago and have recently just spent a bit of time learning some grammar. I understand all of this from this website- The difference between 「は」 and 「が」 | Tae Kim's Blog Me) 食べた？ – Did you eat? You) 食べた。 – I ate. Now, what if I wanted to ask you if Alice...

jref.com

 

[Majestic]

For some reason I want to resist the idea of は or が "prioritizing" the subject.

Identifying the subject would be a better way of describing は (at least, to my mind).
が specifies a particular thing (or pinpoints a thing you are querying).

Hopefully the above threads support what i'm saying
But as you can see from the volume of words that have been spent on this subject, it is quite confusing.

So in your example sentences you could use either eigo ha yoku wakarimasu, as well as eigo ga yoku wakarimasu. The nuance of one or the other will depend on what the surrounding conversation is (i.e. the context). But just as a sentence out of the blue, you can use either of them.

 

[Toritoribe]

Here are another summaries of explanations about those particles.

IMABI - The Particle Ga が I
IMABI - The Particle Wa は I
IMABI - The Particle De で I
IMABI - The Particle De で II

for example, eego ga yoku wakarimasu is in the textbook, but why can't it be a wa? unless it can, and in that case whats the difference?

Wa functions as a contrastive marker in that example, something like "I can understand English well (, but I cannot understand other languages)".

As said in the site I linked above, ga and wa are really complex. It's often hard to grasp even for advanced learners. Our veteran member once said that ga vs. wa was perhaps the hardest part about Japanese for English speakers.

 

[mdchachi]

Hello! I have been learning japanese and I don't feel like I fully understand what wa meant anymore after I got introduced to ga. and I get confused now on what to use and where. I used to assume that wa always prioritized the subject before it (watashi wa), but recently when I learnt ga, it also indicates the subject before it? which confuses me and makes me unsure off what each mean when I see them, and when and how to use them. ( for example, eego ga yoku wakarimasu is in the textbook, but why can't it be a wa? unless it can, and in that case whats the difference?). as for de, I don't really grasp it as well, I know you can use it for when you use things, such as chopsticks or scissors, or for transport, but I feel like there more to it. thanks for any help or insight.

There is a lot more to this topic than you can imagine and you will probably never fully understand it. I've been speaking Japanese every day for 30 years now and I can't say I fully understand these two particles. And I can say Japanese people also don't fully understand it. (Of course they all can use them appropriately in the correct ways. By this I mean, they know what sounds natural but don't understand it well enough to explain it.) That being said, if you can read through and understand the linked articles you will know practically everything you need to know on this topic.

 

[Toritoribe]

I think it's like "a" vs. "the" in English. Native speakers can easily choose the correct one or can tell the difference in meaning or nuance between them for a specific sentence, but it would be a tough work to explain all the functions of "a" and "the" exhaustively to non-native learners of English.

You don't need to worry about it too much. You'll be able to get at least the basics of those particles gradually.

 

[Alter]

thanks a lot!