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が Particle Posted by on Feb 28, 2010 in Grammar

We’ve seen the particle used in certain grammatical expressions like:

先生が好きです = I like the teacher.

(先生 = せんせい/teacher. = ga particle. 好きです = すきです/like)

and 傘がありません = I don’t have an umbrella.

( = かさ/umbrella. = ga particle. ありません = don’t have)

There are also other uses of . The particle can be used for emphasis:

山下さんがそれをします = Mr. Yamashita will do it (that).

(山下 = やました/Yamashita. さん = Mr. = ga particle. それ = that/it. = direct object particle. します = do)

Also, is used after interrogative words:

誰が来ましたか = Who came [here]?

( = だれ/who. = ga particle. 来ました = きました/came. = question marking particle.)

is also used as a topic marking particle of a sentence:

あの人が鈴木さんです彼女はここの学生です = That person over there is Ms. Suzuki. She is a student here.

(あの = That over there. 人 = ひと/person. が = ga particle. 鈴木 = すずき/Suzuki. さん = Ms. です = is.)

(彼女 = She. は = subject marking particle. ここ = here. の = possession marking particle. 学生 = student.です = is)

The first sentence uses because the topic of the conversation concerning Ms. Suzuki hasn’t been introduced yet. The second sentence uses because Ms. Suzuki has already been introduced and therefore she is now the subject of the sentence. Therefore is used when we haven’t been introduced to someone’s identity yet.

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