96386
I've recently begun learning Japanese and was tasked with translating the
sentence "The toilet is over there.". My first intuition would have been

> トイレはあそこです。

However, it was suggested that

> あそこはトイレです。

is also correct. From my admittedly very rudimentary understanding, it seems
like the first would correspond to "The toilet is there", while the second
seems more equivalent to "There is the toilet." Specifically, the first making
the toilet the topic, while the second makes あそこ (over there) the topic.

I would like to know if these two sentences are equivalent and interchangable,
or if one is "technically correct but sounds odd", or if there are subtle
differences between those two sentences.
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2022-09-27T22:34:04.010
96385
2022-09-27T23:13:01.793
2022-09-27T22:40:35.677
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question
grammar meaning nuances syntax
Are these two sentences equivalent? 「トイレはあそこです。」、「あそこはトイレです。」
Basically your understanding is correct. Both are natural by themselves, but
used in different contexts.

Suppose you have a friend in your new house.

  * トイレはあそこです is an answer to the question "where is the toilet?"
  * あそこはトイレです is an answer to the question "what is that room/door?"

* * *

A complication may be that あそこ **が** トイレです is (more) an answer to "where is
the toilet?", i.e., similar to トイレはあそこです.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-09-27T23:13:01.793
96386
2022-09-27T23:13:01.793
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96385
answer