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In Season 3, Lesson 5-7, I’m confused by this example:
Q. わたしのくるまはすきですか？
A. No, I hate your car. Translation →
いいえ、あなたのくるまがきらいです
Q. あれはきらいですか？
A. Yes, I hate that thing over there Translation →
はい、あれがきらいです
In both answers, shouldn’t the particle used be は instead of が because the subjects don’t need to be identified?
They both indicate subjects. The difference is が emphasizes what comes before it and は emphasizes what comes after it.
In いいえ、あなたのくるまがきらいです the person responding to the question is emphasizing the “your car” part. If は was used instead the person responding what be emphasizing the “hate” part.
In はい、あれがきらいです the person responding is emphasizing the “that thing over there” part. If は was used instead the person responding would be emphasizing the “hate” part.
Not quite correct. は = topic marker. が = subject marker. Generally the topic is the subject, but not always. In this case, the topic is being omitted, because it’s clear from the context (it’s わたし) – the full sentence would be わたしはあれがきらいです. It’s a sentence of the form ～は～が～です, which you’ll be seeing crop up reasonably often. For example, こういちさんはかみがながいです – Koichi’s hair is long. You could also say こういちさんのかみはながいです, but like kanjiman mentioned, this is a case of differing emphasis.
Thanks for correcting me Joel. I should of checked back and clarified the difference. Your explanation actually helped me too. I’ve been going through each chapter only once lately instead of usually twice so I’ve miss understood a few things.
Wouldn’t there need to be the ‘no’ particle in there to make it Koichi’s hair, or (my) thing over there?
no
AnonymousI think there doesn’t need to be a の particle in ‘ こういちさんはかみがながいです’ because it kind of makes sense as you translate it as ‘As for Koichi, hair is long’. You could say ‘Koichi’s hair is long’ if you added in the の particle though.
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