You met は on your first day and が on your second, and nobody has given you a straight answer since. Textbooks say は is the topic marker and が is the subject marker, which is true and almost completely useless, because English sentences have subjects and topics in the same place. Here is the version that actually decides sentences: は makes a word the stage. が puts the light on it.
Every example sentence has audio, and its English is blurred on purpose. Read the Japanese first, then tap the blur to check yourself.
Here is the whole lesson in two sentences. Imagine asking a Japanese friend a question:
私は日本人です ・ 私が日本人ですOne character apart. Ask her what nationality she is and she says the first: “I’m Japanese.” Say instead “I know one person in this room is Japanese, which of you is it?” and she says the second: “I’m the one who is.”
Why These Two Get Confused
Because English does this job with word order, stress and the words “a” and “the”, and it does it so quietly that most native speakers have never noticed. Say these out loud: “a cat is in the garden” and “the cat is in the garden.” Same six words, near enough, and they answer different questions. The first is news about a cat. The second is news about where the cat is.
Japanese does not have “a” and “the”, and it does not lean on stress. It marks the difference with a single character after the word, and it marks it every single time. So a learner who thinks in English hears two particles doing one job, when in fact one of them is doing a job English does silently.
Before you choose, ask: is this word what I am talking about, or is it the news? What you are talking about, the thing already in the room, takes は. The news, the thing your listener did not have a second ago, takes が.
The Two Particles at a Glance
| Particle | What it does to the word | Where the new information sits | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| は | Makes it the stage: this is what we are talking about | After it. The news is the rest of the sentence | 私は学生です。I am a student. |
| が | Puts the light on it: this word is the point | On it. The word right before が is the news | 私が学生です。I am the one who is a student. |
The whole lesson on one card.
はThe Stage
When you put は after a word you are saying: you and I both know about this already, so let me tell you something about it. The word itself is not the news. Everything after は is. It is also the particle of contrast, which is why negatives reach for it: ビールは飲みますが、ワインは飲みません (I drink beer, but I don’t drink wine).
今日は寒いですね。
[Today is not news to anybody. は sets it as the frame and the cold is the remark. 今日が寒いです (today is the cold one) would be picking today out of the other days, which is a strange thing to announce.]
がThe Spotlight
が does the opposite. It says: the word I just said is the point. It is new, or it is the answer, or it is the one out of several. Nothing after が can take the news away from it.
あっ、猫がいます。
[Something walking into the scene is the purest が there is. The あっ is the giveaway: you did not know about the cat a second ago, and now you do. Weather, sounds and aches arrive the same way: 雨が降る (it rains), 頭が痛い (my head hurts).]
誰が来ましたか。
[A question word is by definition the thing you do not know, so the light has to be on it. 誰は is not a sentence anyone says, and the answer keeps が too: 田中さんが来ました (Mr. Tanaka came).]
The Handoff
The clearest demonstration of the rule in the language is the opening of every Japanese folktale, and it does the job in two sentences. Watch the same old man change particles.
むかしむかし、おじいさんとおばあさんが住んでいました。
[First mention. You had never heard of these two people until this second, so they are pure news and they take が.]
おじいさんは山へしばかりに行きました。
[One sentence later and he is old information, so he switches to は and becomes the stage. The news is now what he did. This handoff, が on the way in and は ever after, is the rule working in slow motion.]
One Sentence, Two Particles
The fastest way to feel the difference is to hold a sentence still and change only the particle. Nothing else moves.
ここは私の部屋です。
[You are giving somebody a tour. The room you are standing in is the stage; whose it is, is the news.]
ここが私の部屋です。
[Now the room is the news. Somebody asked which one is yours, and you are picking it out of the others. Same four words, and が does all the pointing.]
Where the Choice Is Made for You
Most of the time は and が are both possible and the one you pick changes the meaning. In four places there is no choice at all, and these four turn a judgement call into a rule.
- A question word always takes が, and so does its answer. 誰 (who), 何 (what), どれ (which), どこ (where): they are the unknown, and the unknown cannot be the stage.
- Inside a clause that describes a noun, only が. は belongs to the whole sentence, so it will not fit in a pocket of it.
- After 好き, 上手, わかる, ある, いる, the thing takes が, not を, however much the English wants an object. This is where both particles meet in one sentence: 私は寿司が好きです (I like sushi), the stage first and the word the light is on second.
- Contrast and most negatives take は. Saying what you do not do implies a comparison, and は is the particle that carries one.
母が作ったお弁当はおいしいです。
[Rules 2 and 1 of the stage in one sentence: 母が作った (my mother made it) is a clause describing the lunch, so it takes が, and the sentence’s one は is out on お弁当 (the lunch) where it belongs.]
Three Sentences Worth Getting Wrong Once
1. は on a question word
✗ 何は好きですか。 Every learner produces this once, usually while thinking “what is the topic here? Food, probably.” But the question word is not the topic. It is the hole in the sentence.
何が好きですか。 (What do you like?) The light goes on the thing you do not know.
2. を after わかる
✗ 私は日本語をわかります。 This is English grammar wearing Japanese clothes. “I understand Japanese” has an object in English, so を feels right.
私は日本語が少しわかります。 (I understand a little Japanese.) わかる is closer to “is clear to me” than to “I understand.” Nothing is being acted on, so nothing takes を. The same trap waits at 好きです and 上手です.
3. は inside a describing clause
✗ 父は撮った写真を見せます。 A listener hears this as a sentence that fell apart halfway.
父が撮った写真を見せます。 (I’ll show you the photo my father took.) 父が撮った describes the photo, and a describing clause takes が.
Quick Self-Check
Pick the particle. Answers below.
- あっ、あそこに猫＿＿いますよ。 (は ・ を ・ が ・ に)Oh, there’s a cat over there.
- 母＿＿作ったお弁当はおいしいです。 (が ・ は ・ に ・ を)The lunch my mother made is delicious.
- 私＿＿日本語が少しわかります。 (が ・ を ・ に ・ は)I understand a little Japanese.
- 弟はギター＿＿上手です。 (を ・ に ・ は ・ が)My younger brother is good at the guitar.
Answers. 1. が, because the cat has just walked into the scene and あっ says you did not know about it a second ago. 2. が, because 母が作った is a clause describing the lunch, and は cannot go inside one. 3. は, because the person is the stage and the language is the word the light is on. 4. が, because 上手 is an adjective with nothing to act on, so the guitar is what is good.
If you remember one thing, make it this: は makes a word the stage, and が puts the light on it. は says “here is what we are talking about” and hands the news to whatever comes next. が says “this word, right here, is the news.” One old man walks into a story with が and lives the rest of it with は, and that is the entire rule.
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