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I am struggling with the usage of the particles は ＆ が
I understand that は is what shows emphasis on things after it, and that が shows emphasis on things before it.
What I don’t under stand is when you make a sentence on your own how do pick. it just seems very complicated to me.
あの人はきれいです。
りんごが好きじゃありません。
あのかぞくはけちでした。
このペンははででした。
日本のたべものはにんきです。
the person over there is pretty.I don’t like the apple.
the family over there was stingy.
this pen was showy.
Japan’s food is popular.
Generally, you need to introduce a new idea with が, unless you’re fairly sure that your listener will understand what you’re talking about, in which case you use は. So, proper nouns, unique nouns (like 太陽 or 世界, say), generic nouns or something that’s plain from the context.
は can also indicate contrast, so if you want to say, for example “you look pretty today” to someone, if you use は you’re implying “you don’t look pretty on other days”.
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