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I just got to this page in season 3 where I learn about asking people whether they like something or not.
Now I don’t know if it’s a mistake here, or if I just missed something. Im the explanation at first it says:Ho ho ho – see what happened there? In the question, we used が because we identified the thing we’re asking about (dogs). Because dogs have already been identified, you can answer using は, which puts the emphasis and importance on whether or not you like them (i.e. what comes after は).
so:
- が in the question to identify the thing somebody does or doesn’t like
- は in the answer to stress whether or not I like itNow in the practice questions at the bottom of the page it is used the other way around, meaning は in the question and が in the answer. Is this on purpose? And if this is not a mistake, could somebody explain me why I’m using this the other way around now?
I’m not much further than you, but: I believe it can go either way, it’s just a matter of what’s being emphasized in what order.
いぬ が すき ですか？
Do you like dogs?
A. はい、いぬ は すき です。
Yes, I like dogs / Yes, as for dogs, I like themThis is the example question from the text. I’m going to try to reword it to keep the meaning mostly intact, but exaggerate how they’re different depending on where the が and は are. Someone jump in if I’m not getting it right, either.
いぬ が すき ですか？
DOGS: Do you like them?
はい、いぬ は すき です。
Yes, the thing you were talking about (dogs), I like.whereas with は and が switched, it’s more like…
いぬ は すき ですか？
THINGS YOU LIKE: Dogs?
はい、いぬ が すき です。
Yes, the thing you were talking about (my likes), includes dogs.いぬ が すき ですか？<br>
DOGS: Do you like them?<br>There’s also an implied topic going on, here. myskattenさんは犬が好きですか – “Speaking for yourself, myskatten, do you like dogs?”
I guess it’s possible… just feels a bit weird that way around :D
Honestly, I think Koichi’s reluctance to use the grammatical terms “topic” and “subject” just confuses matters to no end – he winds up doing some mumble about emphasis instead – though to be fair, this is one of the more difficult uses of が anyway (since it’s marking the object, instead of the subject like it normally does).
But then, は also functions as a contrastive marker, so 犬は好きですか could also be implying “Do you like dogs (as opposed to cats)?”
I understood that chapter as, if you use は, you will talk about something previously unheard of in the conversation, whilst が is used to refer back to something previously mentioned. Does that make sense..? Do I understand the difference at all?! ;; *feels worried*
@ Jonas. Yeah, sort of. は is used to introduce a new topic of conversation (or sometimes, as Joel said, to show contrast). が marks the subject of the clause. The subject, in grammatical terms, is the thing being described by the adjective or noun, or the thing doing the verb.
*Person A notices his lunch is missing*
Person A: My lunch is gone!
Person B: Person C said that Person D ate it.Person A’s lunch is the topic the entire time and would be marked with は. The topic of the only clause in the first sentence is also Person A’s lunch (which could be marked with が except that は and が are never used together like some other particles are (i.e. には) and は takes precedence). The second sentence has two clauses. The subject of the first is Person C, and the subject of the second is Person D.
The main thing here is that the topic never changes from “Person A’s lunch, so we never need another は.
Aさん：べんとう が なくなった！
Bさん：（べんとうは）Cさん が Dさん が たべた と いった。I think…
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