Intermediate Unit 1: Shitsumon
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In lesson 1 there's the review/summary of imasu, and this sentence is used:Yamada san ga imasu. (Mr.Yamada is there.)Is this a locative or an existential statement? The English translation sounds locative, and if it is, are sentences with animate subjects, koko, soko, asoko, and desu grammatical?Yamada san wa asoko desu. (Mr. Yamada is over there.)like:Byooin wa asoko desu. (The hospital is over there.)Arigatoo!
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Oh yes, it's easy to get confused about Japanese locative and existential sentences. So let's at least get some of the things straighten out here!
Yamada san ga imasu can be either locative or existential, depending on a context.
Right, so there are a few different ways to describe locations of things/people.
1. [thing]-ga [location]-ni arimasu.
2. [animal/person]-ga [location]-ni imasu.
3. [thing]-wa [location]-ni arimasu.
4. [animal/person]-wa [location]-ni imasu.
5. [thing]-wa [location] desu.
6. [animal/person]-wa [location] desu.
In Essential Japanese, you only saw #5, which is the simplest construction. But now you're ready to see everything!
So what are the differences between the above sentences, other than the animate/inanimate distinction?
First of all,
#3 & #5 can be used almost interchangeably.
#4 & #6 can be used almost interchangeably.
And then...
You can use #3~#6 when the person or thing has already been the topic of your conversation. In contrast, you can use #1 & #2 when you first bring up somebody or something into the topic of your conversation. Yes, so that's basically the wa/ga distinction.
Some examples with English translations to convey some flavor:
1. Hon ga asoko ni arimasu.
"There's a book over there. / I see a book over there."
2a. Otoko no hito ga kooen ni imasu.
"There's a man in the park. / I see a man in the park.
2b. Yamada san ga kooen ni imasu.
"I see Yamada in the park."
3. Hon-wa uchi-ni arimasu.
"The book is at home"
4. Musuko-wa kooen-ni imasu.
"My son is in the park."
5. Depaato wa eki no tonari desu.
"The department store is next to the station."
6. Yamada san wa uchi desu.
"Mr. Yamada is home."
I'll talk about how to ask questions (using doko, nani, dare) later on, so stay tuned! -
That helps a lot. I see how wa and ga can make the same distinctions as the and a in English. Cool. So:Hon ga asoko ni arimasu.A book is over there. There's a book over there.Hon wa asoko ni arimasu.The book is over there.Now, testing the limits of my comprehension... is it awkward to use ga with possessives or other constructions that force a kind of presupposition? So:Watashi no hon ga asoko ni arimasu.Couldn't mean neutral "My book is over there," but must mean something like "Oh, there's my book over there!" (I've been looking for it...)Maybe I'm overreaching! Either way, this helps a lot. Arigatoo!
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Yes, wa/ga distinction sometimes corresponds to the/a distinction in English. But only sometimes, not always...
But the scenario you presented for Watashi no hon ga asoko ni arimasu is correct!
Yeah, great job!
However, that is not the only scenario for using Watashi no hon ga asoko ni arimasu. What else, then?
Well, you can say this sentence as a response to the question, Nani ga asoko ni arimasu ka. "What's over there?" (i.e. I see something is over there, but I cannot quite identify what it is. Do you know what's over there?)
So the exchange will be:
-- Nani ga asoko ni arimasu ka.
"What's over there?"
-- Watashi no hon ga asoko ni arimasu.
"My book is over there."
Why do you have to use ga in stead of wa? In the question above, ga is used because a question word can never be followed by wa. (I think this is stated in Intermediate Japanese.) In the response, you have to use ga because "my book" is new information you provide to answer the question.
I feel like I should start a new discussion thread talking about wa and ga! -
Guess what... another wa/ga question. I think I understand, but I just want to be sure. In Grammar 2 of Lesson 1 of Intermediate, there's a sentence in the note on mo:Amerika kara gakusee ga kimasu.Is the use of ga here because we're first mentioning the students? So it would be translated as something like:Some students are coming from America.There are (some) students coming from America.And if I say:Amerika kara gakusee wa kimasu.That means the students have already been identified, along the lines of "The students are coming from America."Yes, we need a wa/ga discussion thread!
