As I mentioned before, I am looking for a language exchange partner who is a native English speaker and a basic learner of Japanese. But I wonder whether I can teach Japanese grammar. I know that between English language and Japanese language has very different grammar.
So, I wanted to know what kind of question a basic learner has. Then, I read several articles at a English forum for a learner of Japanese.
And one good question jumped to my eyes. The title was "The difference between wa and ga." Actually I tried to explain this difference in English as a trial before I read this article. What a coincidence!
A questioner thinks "wa" and "ga" mean the same thing, but he knows they cannot be use interchangeably in every situation. Then he asked to give him an easy to understand explanation what the difference between these two sentences is ; "Watashi wa gakuse desu." "Watashi ga gakuse desu."
I had though if there was no good answer on the site, I would try to post my explanation. However much better answer than me was already posted by non-Japanese. Now, I have no confidence to explain Japanese grammar better than a learner of Japanese.
I'll put the best answer by Mark below.
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That is a good question. Both are correct. The difference is:
If I say: Watashi wa Mark desu. It means that the information I want to highlight is after the "wa".
If I say: Watashi ga Mark desu. It means the information I want to highlight is before the "ga".
Here are two examples:
If someone asks me "What is your name?" and if someone else asks "Who is Mark?" In English, the answer to both is "I am Mark".
But in Japanese the answer to "What is your name?" is: Watashi wa Mark desu.
Because "Mark" is the information I want to give.
For the question: "Who is Mark?" for example when a teacher is asking a group of students, then I will answer: "Watashi ga Mark desu".
Because "Mark" is already given, the unknown information is who. So in the answer, I want to highlight "I", therefore I use "ga" to indicate that is the information I want to focus on.
I hope you can understand what I am trying to say.
by Mark
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Don't you think this was a perfect answer?
I wanted to say the same thing about this answer, but I didn't know the proper word for "highlight". It is not good too much explanation for a beginner. A beginner just get confused if I didn't know the proper word to explain. In addition, it would be possible that a beginner grow to hate Japanese language.
After that, I read "A Japanese guide" on the Internet. But I gave it up after reading a little.
What a complicated language!!
I really hate to read grammatical explanation. I want to say it to those who want to learn Japanese:
"You shouldn't study Japanese!!!"
I'd better look for a language exchange partner who learned already a basic Japanese grammar...
