Subject Particle: が (ga)

The use of the Subject Particle is as its name implies, が (ga) marks the Subject; it tells us the thing (who or what) that performed the action of the Verb and explicitly highlights what the sentence is about. A subject must contain a noun, noun-phrase or pronoun.

There are a few other uses of the が Particle but in this lesson, we will only be looking at its use as the Subject marker of a sentence. We'll be using this when we learn more about verbs.

The most basic use of the Subject Particle が is to mark the main person or thing the sentence is about, placing emphasis and focus on the marked subject from all the other possible subjects. The Subject also describes the person or thing that does the action of the Verb, similar to how it is in English, for example: "Yuta read a book"; here, "Yuta" is the one who "read" the book.

The sentence structure may appear to be the same as when we learnt about the Topic は particle but the Subject が particle adds more emphasis on the person or thing dong the verb.

Because sentences like these have similar English translations, there is confusion between the Subject が and the Topic は acting as the same thing; the two can be easily mixed up. In the following sections, hopefully, you will see the differences using either the が or は particles can make.

Highlighting the Subject with が

Due to the similarities with the Topic は Particle, the Subject が Particle is often misunderstood. It's not a topic that is well understood or explained very well due to differences between English and Japanese. At this point, it is best not to compare too much in relation to English grammar.

The Topic and Subject should not be seen as being the same as it may in English. Using either one or the other can create contrast and express a different meaning.

The Topic is what the sentence overall is about. For example, there is a room full of people but the topic could be about any one of them, it does not state specifically who is being talk about. The topic assumes we already know who it is. It is basically something that expresses old information we already know about by context or clues otherwise it clarifies what is being talked about.

The Subject marks exactly what is being talked about. For example, even though there is a room full of people, we are specifically talking about only one of them and no one else. The Subject defines a person or thing as the new topic of information and explicitly states who or what it is.

This is why you may see a literal translation following something like: "Speaking of ...", "As for ..." or "On the topic of ..." when referring to the Topic は. For example:

As you can see, the main difference that the Subject が has is that it puts emphasis on that subject, telling us that it is very important information; rather than telling use what is being talked about, it singles out who or what is being talked about among other potential subjects.

Think of it as if we are on the Topic of a group of circular icons (as shown below) but it is the forth one in particular that is the Subject of our conversation. The forth one (and only the forth one) is the one we are talking about. It IS the forth one we are talking about:

This is more noticeable in a sentence such as "I like you"; in English, the subject is "I" because it is "I" that does the verb "like" (not anyone else but me specifically) and the object that receives the verb is "you". To place emphasis on "you", it would need to be rephrased as "It is you that I like" or "You are the one I like". This is known as Topicalisation.

In Japanese, this is not the same; "I" is the Topic, not the subject but instead the word "you" is the Subject. This Japanese sentence is only made of a topic, subject and predicate (verb). Also, the word すき (like) in Japanese is actually an adjective, not a verb which is why it forms a verbal adjective at the predicate.

Here, you can see there are two things this sentence is about, わたしは (me) and あなたが (you) but how do we know who is being liked (すき)? Since the Subject marks directly who is being talked about then that would be あなたが (you); here, が presents the same "It is you that I like" or "You are the one I like" from before except in Japanese, it's the subject, not the topic.

Because the Topic is obviously about わたし (me) then that can be ommited in Japanese. It is more common to simply say あなたがすき (anata ga suki); I like you. Also, the Subject does not need to be a pronoun or living thing.

Marking the Subject of the Verb

The Subject が not only places emphasis and focus on a single person or thing but also marks this particular subject as the thing that does the action of the Verb, similar to how it is in English.

In this example, Yuta is the one who たべる (eats); he is the one performing the verb and for that reason, he is the Subject of this sentence. The Subject が here marks who or what is doing the action and affecting the Object を; Yuta is the one who is doing the eating and the eating happens to the sushi.

Sometimes, there is confusion between the Subject が and the Topic は and the two can be easily mixed up or misunderstood. Let's look at another example:

What really makes the difference between the Topic は and Subject が is that the Topic does not relate directly to the Verb but instead provides contextual information about what is being said overall; we know that Shinobu is the one who read a book but the Topic helps us clarify that it was yesterday when it happened; the Topic has very little to no affect on the verb.

What if the Subject is the Topic?

Despite what we've already mentioned so far, there are many times where the Topic is also the thing performing the Verb; it is usually here that the topic は particle commonly replaces the subject が. The main points to note is that:

1. The Topic is used to express old information we already know about by context.
2. The Subject defines new and important information.

In the sentence "Yuta wa sushi o taberu", while Yuta is not considered new information, it is placed here simply to provide context for the rest of the sentence so we know who is being talked about; the main focus is that he eats sushi.

In the case of "Yuta ga sushi o taberu", Yuta is new and important information, not just context we are already aware of. The difference here is that IT IS Yuta who does the act of eating.

> English Context

The easiest way to think of this is that the Topic expresses old information we already know about. In English for example:

Here, Shinobu must give a full sentence as there is no context to go on otherwise Miki wouldn't know who Shinobu is talking about. The rest of the comment also adds more new information about when it happened so Miki will understand.

By context, Miki knows that Yuki is the Subject, the one being talked about and that it happened yesterday.

In response, Miki refers to Yuki as He since the context tells us who He is. Similarly, Miki doesn't say yesterday to state when the buying happened, because it's already understood by context.

This context helps us to avoid repeating ourselves all the time. Imagine having to say a person's name every time you mentioned them instead of a pronoun like he or she or repeating the time and place or other information every time. "What did Yuki do yesterday?" / "Yesterday, Yuki bought a book."

> Japanese Context

This stays true in Japanese except for a little difference in context. For example:

Again, Shinobu gives a full sentence because no information is provided by context. Because が isn't used to mark the subject, ゆき "Yuki" is not considered new information; は is used simply to clarify who is being talked about. 昨日 (kinou) "yesterday" is new information. Both of these are now added to the context box.

The difference here, unlike English, is that none of the information in the context box needs to be repeated in Japanese and for that reason can be dropped altogether.

※ The only problem in English is that certain words need to be included for a grammatically complete sentence. Since a Subject is required (sometimes an object too), an English response here needs to use "He" to refer to "Yuki" if you don't want to repeat his name all the time.

Creating Contrast with は and が

In the following examples, you will see the same sentence but each using either は or が.

The contrast here is that using は makes a general statement about something in it's normal known state; what's basically being said is the fact that Yuta eats sushi because that's what he does, he eats sushi and always has. It's nothing new. It might even be common knowledge.

As we mentioned before, the topic expressing old information we may already know. The topic は shifts focus away from Yuta and because the predicate is the most important part of the Japanese language, focus is on the fact that he "eats sushi" (sushi o taberu).

However, using が makes a statement about something that isn't normally in that state; What is said here is the fact Yuta eats sushi, though, he normally doesn't eat sushi at all. It might be that Yuta has never eaten sushi until now.

To add to this, you may find が being used when the action is actually taking place; even if it's common knowledge that Yuta eats sushi, it's what he is doing that's important; we can then point to Yuta and say (Yuta ga sushi o tabeteiru) "Yuta is eating sushi".

Again, as we mentioned before, the Subject が expresses new and important information. The focus is on Yuta performing the action. He is the main focus here.

※ You may usually find that the Topic は is common here instead of が, even when there is no intended contrast but when you get use to listening or reading these in normal everyday Japanese, you may automatically recognise what's being meant.

Using the Subject が as an Object

Not all Verbs can be used with the Direct Object を particle and for that reason we use the Subject が particle instead of the Direct Object を. These are called Intransitive Verbs.

An Intransitive Verb is a type of verb that does not require a Direct Object; it does not transfer its action to another noun and for that reason it may follow a subject and other information to create a completely independent clause. Using an object with an intransitive verb will create an incorrect sentence.

As you can see here, わかる (wakaru) is an Intransitive Verb and using the Direct Object を does not make sense; it needs a Subject to be complete. However, はなす (hanasu) is a Transitive Verb and for that, it uses the Direct Object を particle instead.

While the Subject が particle may appear to be used in the same way as the Direct Object を particle, do not confuse the two; in the sentence 日本語が分かる (nihongo ga wakaru), 日本語 (nihongo) is the subject, not the object. Even though in English it may make sense that 日本語 (nihongo / Japanese) is the object (the thing being understood), this is not the case in Japanese.

In English, the word "understand" is a Transitive Verb meaning the person or thing that is being "understood" is the grammatical Object of the sentence; in Japanese, わかる (wakaru) is an Intransitive Verb meaning the Subject does something all by itself rather than the person or thing being affected by or having something done to it.

※ it is best not to compare too much in relation to English grammar.

The Missing が Particlecasual

It is common to find that even though a sentence has a Subject, the particle が itself is missing in informal speech. You may find this happening in text messages, social media posts or even many articles. However, there is no real difference or changes in expression between using が or leaving it off.

This does not mean が can be omitted altogether, though; whenever we are singling out a specific subject from other potential subjects, が is always kept in the sentence. In the example sentence above, だれか (dare ka) is "someone" but we don't know who that "someone" is. However, if we single out a specific subject such as ゆた (Yuta), we must use が to emphasise this.

Lesson Summary

So, what does using the Topic は particle have anything to do with the Subject が Particle, if the は particle is only used as a way of marking the topic? Remember in the previous sections, the Subject in Japanese marks exactly what is being talked about and that it relates directly to the verb.

The Subject が particle is used to mark new or important information. Marking ゆき (yuki) with が would place emphasis on ゆき as being the most important information, it is ゆき and no one else being talked about.

The Topic は particle expresses old information and shifts emphasis away from who or what is being talked about. In this case, while ゆき is not new information, は simply clarifies that ゆき is the one being talked about but he isn't the main focus of the sentence.

The main point here is that the Verb is the most important part of a Japanese sentence and the Subject relates to the Verb making the Subject important. The Topic is distant from the Verb and places less focus on who or what is being talked about but sets the theme.

Additional Notes