I recommend you read this thread from page one and merge this thread with that one so everyone can get the same information all together.
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar
Holy shit this helps SO much. A straight, concrete grammar guide, for free, that teaches with the intent to make you think from a Japanese perspective, rather than English.
Well, even despite that, I need help understanding「が」
I have trouble knowing when to use it instead of「を」or「は」. I’ve read the lesson from that link I gave for it, as well as the one on japanesepod101, but i still don’t get it.
The first symbol is 'ka", used at the end of sentences to turn them into questions. Pretty much the equivalent of a question mark. Sore wa inu desu = that is a dog, “sore wa inu desuka” = “is that a dog?”
The other two symbols you posted are ‘wo’, pronounced “o”, and “ha/wa” but in this case you’re referring to “wa”.
The first one, wo, is used to mark the topic of a verb. It goes “(activity) wo (verb)”, for example tennisu wo shimasu means tennis I play.
The particle wa is the sentence topic marker. In the sentence “I play tennis”, “I” is the topic of the sentence so you mark it with “wa”. “Watashi wa tennisu wo shimasu”
no,「か」is “ka”, I’m asking about「が」、“ga”
I know how to use「は」and「を」、but sometimes the usage of「が」seems to overlap. I know they aren’t used the same exactly, but you can place「が」in situations that would still be grammatically correct with either「は」or「を」so it’s been confusing me a bit.
I thought that link you posted earlier explained the usage of ga, ha, mo etc pretty well…
Confusion between the usage of ga and ha is understandable, but wo… Maybe you can post examples, sentences so people can point out the differences.
Yeah actually since yesterday the issue of ga vs wo sorted itself out. It’s just there was an example in a worksheet from another site that confused the fuck out of me:
- 私は朝ごはん（ )食べません。.
Watashi wa asa-gohan ( ) tabemasen.
“I don’t eat breakfast.” - 私は漢字（ ）読めません。
Watashi wa kanji ( ) yomemasen.
“I can’t read kanji.”
It gave the answer for 1 as wo and 2 as ga. Going by this example alone, I frankly don’t see the difference, but it seems to me that using ga REALLY needs context.
hmm i see the problem now
tabemasen is the negative form of taberu (eat)
yomemasen is the negative form of yomeru (able to read) not yomu (read)
im not sure whats the proper name for it grammar wise, but before a “able to “verb”” is never “wo”
watashi ha kanji wo yomanai = i dont read kanji
watashi ha kanji ga yomenai = i cant read kanji
ah I see, that helps. They actually said in the lesson that you use “ga” for “verbs of ability” but they weren’t very clear on this and I didn’t realize that example was “not able to read”. Is “don’t read”「読みません」 ?
Reading the example again, the English translation implied it actually, I just didn’t really get it.
I want to punch this girl in the face. She’s super annoying. Awesome rack or not.
On a serious note though, this thread is pretty interesting and I’ve been wanting to learn japanese for years now.
yep, yomimasen/yomanai = dont read.
its almost 1am here so i have to go sleep soon, will check this thread from time to time to see if i can help (when i can). good luck
Oh yeah sorry read that wrong. I’m not 100% sure, but I think the difference in this case is “don’t” vs “can’t”.
Ga is used to mark the subject of the sentence, and sometimes for emphasis. Ga and wo are sometimes interchangeble, but I think in this case we wan’t to emphasize “kanji”, and the fact that we can’t read it. In the first example, we’re talking about what we don’t eat so watashi wa is most important (i.e. who is it we’re talking about that doesn’t eat bread). However, to the question “can you read kanji”, the correct answer would be “kanji ga yomimasen”, as the topic is kanji and our ability to read it.
Can a japanese person come to our rescue?
Well HFX pointed out that it’s not “yomimasen” but “yomemasen” as in “yomeru”. Thanks for trying anyway but HFX cleared it up for me.
wa/ha = topic marker ("___ is") (wa is spoken but written as ha)
ga = subject marker (“as for ____”)
wo/o = indicates direct object
Use ha/wa to:
- mark something already introduced to the conversation
- mark something familiar to both the speaker and listener
Use ga when:
- a situation or happening is just noticed/newly introduced
- to make exclusive/emphasize
(eg. “What is your name?”
“Ore WA [wintermute] desu. (I am [wintermute])”
“Who is [wintermute]?”
“Ore GA [wintermute] desu. (I am [wintermute])”)
I don’t read kanji (implied: …because I don’t feel like it.)
yomAnai is present indicative (negative) form of yomu
(polite version of this is yomimasen)
I can’t read kanji (implied: …but I can read other stuff - ie. romaji, kana, greek, etc. etc.)
yomEnai is potential (negative) form of yomu
(polite version of this is yomemasen)
Kanji is probably the most tedious concept you’ll run into in your life. So painful memorizing those.
I’ve never really had problems with memorization. I mean yeah it is “tedious” but it’s never been a kind of tedious that bothered me. Especially since you’re always learning something new.
what up thread looks like all you guys likes japanese more then chinese. Also the thread is hosted by Laoshu awesome. 你会说中文吗？现在我自己学的中文。你能不能我的中文。 ni3 hui4 shuo1 zhong1 wen2 ma5? xian4 zai4 wo3 zi3 ji4 xue2 de5 zhong1 wen2. ni3 neng2 bu4 neng2 wo3 zhong1wen2?
Farther as japanese goes. I know some phrase, but i don’t study it like chinese. it’s a interesting reason behind it. Right now at the moment I’m on a break from studying chinese, I’m more focused on graduating then I will be focusing on learn languages as hobby after i graduate school, but any of you guys and girl listening this message it’s a pleasure to be here.
Also if you know chinese please correct me. Thanks
Welcome to the thread! We look forward to your contributions!
You’re missing a “de5” (de/de5/de0) in your pinyin.
Ooo yes I forgot wo3 de5 zhong1wen2. 我的中文。 你能看我的汉字吗。我觉得你能将中文。对吗？
@Gasa:
Do you have a public library nearby? You should be able to get the Heisig books through an interlibrary loan service(thats how I had gotten them when I was tip toing into Japanese before going back to Putonghua)