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What is the difference between は and が ? when and how do we use these?
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2015-09-16T00:06:35.720
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2015-11-29T21:01:35.853
2015-11-29T21:01:35.853
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particle-は particle-が
Difference between は and が
Roughly speaking, "wa" is a topic marker, and "ga" is a subject marker. The
topic is often the same as the subject, but not necessary. The topic can be
anything that a speaker wants to talk about (It can be an object, location or
any other grammatical element). In this sense, it is similar to the English
expressions, "As for ~" or "Speaking of ~."

Watashi wa gakusei desu. 私は学生です。 I am a student. (As for me, I am a student.)
Nihongo wa omoshiroi desu. 日本語は面白いです。 Japanese is interesting. (Speaking of
Japanese, it is interesting.)

"Wa" is used to mark something that has already been introduced into the
conversation, or is familiar with both a speaker and a listener. (proper
nouns, genetic names etc.) "Ga" is used when a situation or happening is just
noticed or newly introduced. See the following example.

Mukashi mukashi, ojii-san ga sunde imashita. Ojii-san wa totemo shinsetsu
deshita. 昔々、おじいさんが住んでいました。 おじいさんはとても親切でした。 Once upon a time, there lived an
old man. He was very kind.

In the first sentence, "ojii-san" is introduced for the first time. It is the
subject, not the topic. The second sentence describes about "ojii-san" that is
previously mentioned. "Ojii-san" is now the topic, and is marked with "wa"
instead of "ga."

There are many other usages also.
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2015-09-16T00:25:44.520
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