は (wa)
“Wa” is placed after the topic of a sentence. In other words, everything after “wa” in a sentence will often be describing, talking about, or giving information on whatever is directly in front of “wa.” Frequently the topic of your sentence will be a noun or a person, but “wa” can also come at the end of other things such as verb phrases.
For instance:
私はかわちゃんです。Watashi wa Kawa desu
(I am Kawa).The first sentence is an example of one of the most straightforward ways you will see “wa” used – to mark a person (or a chameleon) as being the topic of what is being said. In this sentence, “me” is who is being spoken about, and what follows after the “wa” is what Kawa-chan is saying about me/herself – that she is Kawa-chan.
あの部屋に入ってはいけません。Ano heya ni haitte wa ikemasen
(You must not enter that room).
The second sentence is a more complex structure, but “wa” is still being used in the same way. “Ano heya ni haitte” (to go into that room) Is what is being spoken about, and the thing that is being said about it is that it is “ikemasen” (forbidden).
Once a topic is clear, it is very frequently left out of all following sentences. If the topic is clear from the beginning, it might never be spoken in the first place. For example, after saying “Watashi wa Kawa desu,” Kawa-chan might go on to say カメレオンです (Kamereon desu, “I am a chameleon”). Because it is clear that Kawa-chan is still what is being spoken about in the statement “Kamereon desu,” she does not need to reiterate “I/me” (watashi) at the beginning of this sentence.
If it was clear from the beginning that Kawa-chan was talking about herself (for instance, if she was part of a group doing self-introductions, and it had come to be her turn), even her first sentence would not need the “watashi wa” and Kawa-chan could have simply said かわです (Kawa desu). Note that if the topic is clear, including “[topic] wa” in your sentence is not incorrect; but doing so may give the sentence a feel of providing unnecessary information.
**Note that the sound “wa” is written with the “wa” kana (わ) when it is part of a word (such as I/me, “watashi”), but with the “ha” kana (は) when it is a particle.
が (ga)
“Ga” is placed after the subject of a sentence. There are many Japanese sentences in which a word or phrase may be followed either by “wa” or “ga,” which causes little to no difference in English translation but does change what is being emphasized in the sentence.
For example:
かわちゃんはオレンジ色です。Kawa-chan wa orenji iro desu.
In the “wa” sentence, Kawa-chan is simply being noted as the topic, and the emphasis is on what is being said about Kawa-chan (that she is orange).
かわちゃんがオレンジ色です。Kawa-chan ga orenji iro desu.
In the “ga” sentence, the emphasis is being placed on Kawa-chan herself (perhaps it was already clear that something or someone is orange, and it is being emphasized that Kawa-chan is the person/thing that is orange).
The basic English translation for both of these sentences is identical: “Kawa-chan is orange.” However, it is helpful to think of the “wa” and the “ga” as italicizing different parts of their respective sentences. Then, the “wa” sentence would be “Kawa-chan is orange” and the “ga” sentence would be “Kawa-chan is orange.”
Understanding this difference in emphasis between “wa” and “ga” will allow you to know which of these two particles to place where in sentences that have both “wa” and “ga”:
かわちゃんは肌がオレンジ色です。Kawa-chan wa hada ga orenji iro desu (Kawa-chan has orange skin).
In this sentence, Kawa-chan is the topic (the chameleon being spoken about), and the speaker is emphasizing that her skin is orange (since this sentence has both a topic and a subject, perhaps multiple chameleons are being spoken about, and different parts of each chameleon (skin, eyes, tongues, clothes) are orange; etc).
“Ga” has an additional, somewhat unrelated use. It can be placed between phrases or at the end of phrases or sentences to mean “but/and.” Whether its meaning is closer to “but” or closer to “and” depends upon the sentence it is being used in, and the circumstances.
For example:
先生と話したいんですが… Sensei to hanashitai n desu ga… (I want to talk to the teacher, and/but…)
今日は試験ですが、勉強する時間がありません。Kyou wa shiken desu ga, benkyou suru jikan ga arimasen (Today is a test, and/but I do not have time to study).
Adding “ga” to the end of sentences such as the first one that are expressing a desire or asking someone to do something is considered good form because it implies something along the lines of “I want [x], but if you can’t help me/don’t want to do that/etc that’s ok” and makes it easier for the listener to refuse or suggest an alternative option.
も (mo)
“Mo” when placed after nouns means “also.”
私もかわちゃんも日本語を勉強しています。Watashi mo Kawa-chan mo nihongo o benkyou shite imasu (Both Kawa-chan and I are studying Japanese).
When translating, especially from audio sources, be careful of confusing the particle Mo with the adverb もう (mou), which means “already:” 私も食べました (watashi mo tabemashita; “I ate, too”) vs 私、もう食べました (watashi, mou tabemashita; “I ate already”)!
When placed after -te form verbs, “mo” can be used to make the sentence pattern “even if [verb]…”:
雪が降っているから、仕事に行かなくてもいいですか？ Yuki ga futteiru kara, shigoto ni ikanakute mo ii desu ka?
(Because it is snowing, is it ok if I don’t go to work? – literally, “is it ok even if I do not go to work?”)
雪が降っても、仕事に行かなくてはいけません。Yuki ga futte mo, shigoto ni ikanakute wa ikemasen (Even if it snows, I have to go to work).
One last note about these three particles: Wa, Ga, and Mo cannot be combined with one another. However, Wa and Mo can be combined with our location/motion particles Ni, De, and E. For example, one could say 家の中では走らないでください (ie no naka de wa hashiranai de kudasai, “please do not run inside the house”).
Keep in mind, though: While Wa, Ga, and Mo can in many cases be interchanged to change the nuance of a sentence, in this case only Wa and Mo can be interchanged – Ga cannot be paired with Ni, De, or E. It would sound very strange to say 家の中でが走らないでください (ie no naka de ga hashiranai de kudasai).
The reason for this is (at least partially) that while most combinations of Wa/Mo and Ni/De/E contrast or correlate the topic of the sentence with other possible topics (in the “please do not run inside the house” sentence, it is implied that one mustn’t run inside as opposed to outside the house or some other place) and therefore seem as though they should be using Ga, “inside the house” is the topic and not the subject of the sentence; and the part of the sentence that is being emphasized is what you mustn’t do (run).
Over time you will develop an innate feeling for when to use Wa vs Ga, but for now it is a good idea to keep rules such as this one (Wa/Mo can pair with Ni/De/E, and Ga cannot) in mind. Also (and this really is the last note, we promise!): When Wa/Mo are paired with Ni/De/E, the Ni, De, or E comes first and the Wa or Mo comes second.
