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At the point I’ve read to in Textfugu (season 7), I’ve seen a handful of particles used with verbs (を、が、で、と、へ, etc), but never は.
It was my assumption was that は is typically not used with verbs, until Koichi brought up a couple sentences:
ビールは飲みます
“I will drink beer”オレンジジュースは飲みません
“I won’t drink orange juice”He translates them exactly the same as if he had used を. My guess is that は is more for introducing a subject or something, like “As for _____, I will _____ it.” Is this correct? Are there any situations where you should always use は? Thanks in advance.
は is called the topic marker – it’s used to mark the topic of a conversation (which is may coincide with, but is different from, the subject of a sentence, so don’t get those confused). So yes, as you noticed, it means “As for beer, I will drink it.”
は is also called the contrastive marker – it’s used to contrast something from something else. So, for example, ビールは飲みます means “I will drink beer” yes, but could also be implying that it’s “beer rather than orange juice”. It might, for example, be an answer to the question ビールとか、ジュースとか、何が飲みたいですか.
Don’t think there’s any situations where you should always use は. There’s a number where it’s important not to use it – specifically, if you’re not trying to be contrastive. I seem to recall someone in this forum posting a quote from someone more fluent in Japanese, who complimented a woman on how tidy her house was on the day he was visiting, but the woman got offended, because he used は, which implied that it wasn’t tidy on other days. It gets kinda complex (and subtle) so I wouldn’t think too hard about it at this point – just focus on は = topic marker.
Might have been Elenkis that posted that. I think it was regarding a meal at a friend’s house, where he inadvertently implied the cook wasn’t usually any good at cooking; the host pointed it out though and laughed it off since he knew the guy didn’t know any better. There was also the example of saying a girl’s eyes(?) are pretty but using は kinda implies the rest of her isn’t :P
Oh, okay, that does make sense, seeing as this was an example for using が to mean “but”.
The は particle can always be contrastive in meaning, then? That’s a little off putting. I’ll be sure to keep the subtle subtext in mind. Thank you very much!
Whether it’s contrastive or not depends on the context. Trouble is, the context can be tricky.
I have another question: In a sentence like this 「新しい机を作るつもりですが明日ハワイに行きます。」, in the audio Koichi gives, the す in です seem much more pronounced, like more of an う sound than it’s usual ‘dess’. It’s the same for all of these が examples, does this kind of sentence alter the pronunciation for some reason?
It’s on this page:
http://www.textfugu.com/season-7/but/4-5/#topI also tend to put more “u” into です when it’s part of ですよ or ですが or the like. Makes the following particle a little easier to say. It’s more personal preference than any change in rules.
I think.
I agree, Joel.
Thanks to you both yet again. ^^
In regards to the whole “です” pronunciation thing, the u is actually pronounced depending on where you are in Japan. The majority of people say “dess,” but just to let you know “deh-soo” isn’t strictly incorrect.
While that it’s true that “de-soo” isn’t exactly incorrect, it’s also a very girly and cutesy way to speak, so if you habitually say it like that, and you’re male or an adult woman, you’re gonna get some funny looks.
At my Japanese class, there was a middle-aged guy there who helped out (a lawyer who’s also studying at the university) and I definitely heard him say “deh-soo”. Not strictly “cutesy and girly”.
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