Particle wa and ga in Japanese

In the previous lesson, we discussed the particle “ni” with arimasu and imasu.

Now let’s see the particles “ga” and “wa”. This week, we will really focus on the particles and understand the differences.

So, like always, we will try to go deeper into these particles.
Some time ago, we had a lesson about “ga” and “wa”. As it the first time that these particles were discussed, I did not explain everything. These particles can be very confusing so I will try to explain one thing at a time. I’ll just focus on increasing our understanding of them and that should be good enough for now.

This article will just compliment the other lessen on “ga” and “wa”.

These two particles can be especially confusing in knowing exactly which one we have to use for the occasion.

Let’s focus on the differences and see if we can go from there.

As we already saw, “wa” and “ga” are used to indicate the subject.

There are a few little tricks that can help us:

“Wa” emphasizes the predicate. Wa indicates what the conversation is about.

“Ga” emphasizes the subject. Ga indicates the subject.

This means that “wa” gives importance to the word that comes after the particle and “ga” to the word standing before the particle.

There are enough examples to understand “wa” and “ga”, so let’s check them out.

I will give you some examples to help you see the difference.
Depending on the context, you will use one or the other. For example, if you are asked: “who are you?”, the important thing is your name, the subject remains the same, but the important thing in this question would be your name.
Otherwise, for example, if there is a championship and the winner is Michael xxxx. The important thing would not be the name, as you already know that it is Michael. The important thing here is the person who carries that name.

Who are you?
I am Michael.
Watashi wa Michael desu.

> I emphasize the predicate; the important word after “wa”.

Who is Michael?
I am (Michael)
Watashi ga Miguel desu.

> I ; the important here is the word before “ga”.

Let’s stop here for today in our journey to learn Japanese.