Topic Particle: は (wa)

Now, it's time for some basic sentences but we still need to cover just one more thing before we do so. Particles. These are very small words, though you could say they aren't really words at all but more like markers. They tell us the context of the word they follow but for now we will cover only one of them. This particle is は (wa).

You will have noticed that the Kana は (ha) is now (wa). This is a special case when は is used as a Particle and it'll be pronounced as (wa) instead. When it's not used as a Particle, は should be sounded as (ha).

There are many uses of the は (wa) Particle such as asking questions, creating contrast, relative clauses, changing scenes and so on but in this lesson, we are just looking at the Topic of a sentence. To do that, we need to use the は Particle as a marker. The other uses of は will be seen in later lessons when we already know more grammar and sentence building.

What is a Topic?

The Topic particle は goes after a noun or noun phrase (a group of words that work like a noun) and forms the part of a sentence that names what the sentence is talking about. However, not all sentences have a topic and even with sentences that do have one, it may not be obvious out of context.

Here, in Miki's resonse to Shinobu, it is clear by context that "She" is the Topic and it is referring to "Haruhi". The rest of Miki's response is the Comment — that is, what is being said about her. The Comment is that part of the sentence which expresses new information, while the Topic expresses old information (what was already talked about). Not all sentences have a Topic/Comment structure, though.

Since the Topic is something that expresses old information, it can be dropped in Japanese as it is already understood from context. In Miki's response, this becomes "toshokan ni itta" (went to the library) as we already know Haruhi is the one who we are talking about. This can also work for dropping the verb too since it is obvious she "went" somewhere.

However, in the case of Shinobu asking a question, while the Topic is expressing old information that we may already know about, it is only used here to clarify who is being talked about. It would be like saying "Where is she?" then getting the reply "Where's who?". For that reason, using the Topic particle clarifies who we are talking about.

When emphasis is placed on an interrogative word such as where? how? why? what? and so on, the subject particle が (ga) should be used instead, for example "doko ga haruhi desu ka?"; the translation here is still "Where is Haruhi?" but less focus is on Haruhi and more importantly where she is.

The best way to think of the Topic in English is to say "Speaking of ___" or "As for ___". For example, (kyou wa getsuyoubi desu) Speaking of today, it is Monday.

※ To summarise, the Topic is what a sentence is overall about and assumes the listener already knows what that thing is from context or clues. For that, the Topic is usually unspoken unless it needs clarifying.

Basic Sentence Structure

Particles generally go after a word or phrase it is attached to and here は (wa) is used to tell us what word the Topic of the sentence is. Unlike the English sentence structure, a Japanese sentence usually begins with a Topic followed by Other Information not part of the topic and always ends with the Predicate.

The Predicate is the main core of the Japanese sentence. It comes at the end and must be a verb or a verbal form. In Japanese, a verbal form may be a noun and a copula or a verbal adjective. Here are four types of predicates in Japanese:

• Verb
• Noun (+ desu)
• na-adjective (+ desu)
• i-adjective [very formal with (desu)]

While Japanese sentences may have a Topic, they must always have a Predicate. The predicate is placed at the end of a sentence and everything else comes before it but is not considered part of it (subject, direct object, indirect objects, adverbs and others).

As opposed to the Predicate, a sentences does not always need the Topic part. If the topic is obvious from context, it can be omitted. The example above would be more natural if written as "doko de ban gohan o tabetai desu ka". If any of the Other Information part is also obvious, it could be spoken as "doko de tabetai desu ka" instead; this in turn can be made more casual with the use of informal words.

Example Sentences

Here are some sentences to practice with. To cover the first one with you. "kanojo wa Oomiya-san desu" what is the topic of this sentence? It's "kanojo" since that is the word with "wa" attached after it. "Oomiya-san" is part of the predicate (noun + desu).

The major difference here compared to English is that "Oomiya-san" is not actually the object. The topic, subject and object in Japanese are not quite the same so let's try not to compare too much in relation to English. We'll see why this is when we cover the subject and object particles.

In the next lesson, we are going to learn about tense by changing です into past and present form so make sure to review all the words so far and understand how the basic sentences we just covered work. Try to make your own basic sentences too.

※ As we already mentioned before, if the topic is already know by context, you can leave off the topic: 灰色です (haiiro desu) it is grey.

Topic vs Subject

From many teachers or textbooks, you will most likely have being told about the so-called S.O.V. (Subject, Object, Verb) word ordering and this being used to describe a sentence without the Subject Particle but misinformed about the connection to the Topic Particle.

The Topic and Subject should never be seen as being the same as it may in English. In English, the Subject and Topic may be the same thing "(the man) ate an apple" [SVO] otherwise the Object and Topic are the same thing "(An apple) the man ate" [OSV].

In Japanese, the topic only states what the sentence is talking about while the Subject states exactly what is being talked about in relation to the verb but not one thing being both the Subject and Topic at the same time. Using either one can be used to create contrast and other meanings.

For this reason, there are two different Particles for them. The Topic refers to old information we already know about by context. Because of this, the Topic is dropped; anything expressed in Japanese that is obvious to the listener does not need to be spoken.

※ We'll cover more about the "Subject Particle" in another lesson as the Topic and Subject may not be the same thing as it is in English but fits in the same place. However, it can be complicated and it's not a topic that is well understood or explained very well due to differences between English and Japanese. To actually understand it well would mean to actually learn it's use in Japanese itself.

Additional Notes

Now that we have covered the Topic Particle は (wa); we can start creating some basic sentences to work with which will help you using and understanding the other forms of です. There's a lot more we can do with です like changing tense and speaking informally