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I was just using a worksheet to practice using ほしい. It says something like “ほん が ほしい ですか？” and then I’m supposed to answer back either “ほん が ほしくない です” or “ほん が ほしい です”. At least, that’s what the example tells me to do. However, I was wondering, shouldn’t I use the particle は instead of が, since the book has already been identified, and the part I’m emphasizing is whether I want it or not?
Here’s the worksheet in question: http://www.textfugu.com/downloads/worksheets/hoshii-tai.pdf
The topic of the sentence is you. YOU want the book. It’s just being omitted – Japanese often omits the topic if it can get away with it, especially if the topic is the first person.
Huh. So, could I include the topic and still be grammatically correct? Like this: “わたし が ほん が ほしい です。” And would both がs would be referring to わたし?
わたし は ほん が ほしい です
This is the AはBがC structure, which is an extremely common – and standard – structure in Japanese. Using が in place of the は would be… weird. Unless this is a subordinate clause in a larger sentence.
Gotcha. Thanks!
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