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A, but/however B
Used to show a contradiction or opposite.
  1. A, but/however B
    Used to show a contradiction or opposite.
  2. Marks the subject A in the sentence
  3. That A (negative, abusive)
    A+め (usually followed by が) is a word that has a negative, abusive nuance: あいつめ, あほうめ, etc.
        かね ありません  
I want to eat, but I don't have money.
16
                
It is sunny now, but it seems like it will be rainy tomorrow.
9
   便         ある  
Cellphones are handy, but there are negative aspects to them as well.
6
          あまり うまく  ないです  
I like songs, but I'm not very good (at singing).

Getting the sentences
Construction
(Elements in parentheses are optional.)
ASentence
BSentence
Basic Examples:
きたいけない (I want to go but I can't)

Where this grammar is found


User notes
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まさむね123
Level: 1
(6 years ago)
@guest (but, however, still) - could be used as meaning based on the previous note.
1
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Level:
(13 years ago)
Be careful of always thinking of 「が」 as a purely contrastive conjunction. Just like the English [but], you will often see 「が」 join together two clauses with a fairly weak contrasting intention:


は50ですが、10えます。
He is fifty but looks ten years younger.
He is fifty and looks ten years younger.

Then sometimes, 「が」 won't provide any contrast at all, instead functioning more like 「そして」 or the English [and]:

はほとんどいなかったが、たいしたもなくした。
There were few passengers, and they escaped without serious injury.
There were few passengers, who escaped without serious injury.

Finally, there will be occasions where 「が」 actually approaches the usage of the semicolon in English, joining together two closely related independent clauses:

テニスのラケットをいたいのですが、スポーツはどこですか?
I'd like to get a tennis racket; where's the sporting goods section?
I'd like to get a tennis racket. Where's the sporting goods section?
17
 
Marks the subject A in the sentence
  1. A, but/however B
    Used to show a contradiction or opposite.
  2. Marks the subject A in the sentence
  3. That A (negative, abusive)
    A+め (usually followed by が) is a word that has a negative, abusive nuance: あいつめ, あほうめ, etc.
10
すみません             
I'm sorry; I broke the plate.
9
   まで    くれた  
My father took me to the station.
5
この               
I think this movie'll take first place this year.

Getting the sentences
Construction
(Elements in parentheses are optional.)
ANoun (Subject)
Basic Examples:
(I like sake)

Where this grammar is found


User notes
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やれやれ
Level: 232
(4 months ago)

Something that helped me tremendously to differentiate the usage between the particles “ga” and “ha” was the concept of “new information”.

In the case of the particle は: We use the particle は when the new information or the information being asked about is the one that comes after the particle.

のITいています。(before this sentence, my interlocutor did not know that I work for a Japanese IT company).

In the case of the particle が: We use the particle が when the new information or the information being asked about is the one that comes before the particle.

のITいています。(we have previously talked about who is working in IT for a Japanese company, and the new information is that I am the one who is working there).

If I'm wrong, please correct me.

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Kuromi
Level: 31
(3 years ago)
I'm a bit disappointed that no one has brought up Core Dolly's explanation on core sentences, so I will take a moment to write it here. This has helped me tremendously in understanding particles and being able to write better, and I hope it does the same for you. I would highly encourage you to seek out her explanation of the other main particles after reading this.

「が」is the core particle for all Japanese sentences, even when it's not visible. It tells us who the subject is.

Every sentence can be broken down into one of two types of basic sentences: [A does B] or [A is B]. [A] is the subject (noun) while [B] is a predicate (verb, adjective, or noun). Since every sentence has a subject, every sentence in Japanese has「が」. [Aが] should be considered as one unit.

In verb sentences, [Aが] tells us who/what does the action.
- 「たちがんだ。」 (The) children played.
- 「べている。」(The) dog is eating.

In adjective and noun sentences, [Aが] tells us who/what receives an attribute or description. But there is an important difference between the two. Japanese adjectives naturally carry the meaning "to be" with it; when we describe someone or something with an adjective, we don't need any additional information. Nouns (and adjectival nouns / na-adjectives) don't have this property, and that's why we need a copula (だ、です) at the end of the sentence. For noun sentences, [Bだ] should be considered as one unit.
Compare the following sentences:
- 「だ。」I am (a) cat.
- 「アニメがきだ。」Anime is liked/favorite. (It's not "I like anime."「き」is an adjectival noun that is describing anime.)
- 「い。」(The) book is interesting.
- 「おしい。」Bento is wanted/desired/wished for. (It's not really "I want bento."「しい」is an adjective that is describing bento.)

Even when 「が」is not visible in the sentence, the concept is still there. In English, we wouldn't say something like "My sister is a student. My sister studies math." Instead, we would say "My sister is a student. She studies math." You know I'm talking about the sister, so why would I need to specifically repeat the subject again?
Japanese does the same thing:「だ。んでいる。」In the second sentence, 「が」 isn't actively there (only hidden) because the subject is understood by the speaker and listener. If it helps, in this case you could think of the lack of「が」as "he/she/it."
(Note: We wouldn't say 「んでいる」 because the Japanese language is not ego-centric. English is all about me, you, he, she, we, etc., but Japanese just omits the subject altogether.)
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Belgand
Level: 1
(13 years ago)
Note that this is not the same as 「は」 though it can appear to be similar. 「は」 specifies a topic, not a subject. In particular「が」is often used when the subject is not known and you wish to use an interrogative, e.g. ("who") or どれ ("which") as the subject. If it helps think about how the translation would be different. While 「は」 can often be translated as "as for (subject)" 「が」 makes a bit more sense as "the one" or "the thing" You wouldn't say "as for who...". This also adds specificity as the unknown subject is now being discussed, not just a general topic which contains an unknown subject.

Compare 「さんはですか。」"As for (the) mother, who is?" with「さんですか。」"Who is the one (that) is mother?". The former is starting a topic (about the mother) and then asking a question within the scope of that topic (who is it?) while the latter is asking a question about the unknown subject of "who". If we swap「が」and「は」to get「さんですか。」we end up with something more like "As for who, is (she) the mother?" and unless it's a vaudeville routine that doesn't make a lot of sense.

Likely it is for this reason that this is not commonly used to begin a conversation since no topic has been specified and this would make further conversation about the unknown subject (e.g. "who"). If the topic has already been introduced into the conversation or is readily apparent from context (e.g. you're standing in front of a group of women) it can be used more readily. Since this can be tricky it's probably best to use it in the former case to direct specific attention to an uncertain point about a topic already under discussion: 「さんはですか。」「さんですか。」"As for the mother, is she well?" "Who is the one that is the mother?".

「が」 is also used when utilizing き, い, and other adjectives. Hence why the example sentence,「きすき」 uses it.
11
 
That A (negative, abusive)
A+め (usually followed by が) is a word that has a negative, abusive nuance: あいつめ, あほうめ, etc.
  1. A, but/however B
    Used to show a contradiction or opposite.
  2. Marks the subject A in the sentence
  3. That A (negative, abusive)
    A+め (usually followed by が) is a word that has a negative, abusive nuance: あいつめ, あほうめ, etc.
2
ども             
A crowd of those dang kids packed in.
1
                  
Those delinquents from the town over came to pick a fight.

Getting the sentences
Construction
(Elements in parentheses are optional.)
ANoun
Basic Examples:
あいつした (those jerks were playing pranks)

Where this grammar is found


User notes

Discussion about this grammar
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kawaii_inu
Level: 1
I've heard that が is also used for pairing two sentences, for example ったががたくさんありました。 (I went to the department store and I found lots of goodies).
2
14 years ago
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マイコー
Level: 283
I haven't heard of that usage - I've always seen it showing a 'but/however' meaning when connecting the two. Checked a grammar dictionary and it backed that up. If you have a textbook or resource that refers to that usage, do let me know. Thanks!
1
14 years ago
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kawaii_inu
Level: 1
Well, I've seen this on Tae Kim's Guide to Japanese. Right now the site is down so I cannot view it to give you a link to the article :) But I'll try later...
2
14 years ago
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kawaii_inu
Level: 1
Viewing this on archive.org : http://replay.web.archive.org/20080705115013/http://www.guidetojapanese.org/compound.html 3rd paragraph after the examples at "Expressing contradiction using 「が」 and 「けど」" . (Sorry, I don't want to spam and I hope it's not considered my comment a spam)
2
14 years ago
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マイコー
Level: 283
Thanks for the followup. I'm going to talk to a Japanese professor at school and see what additional info they can give before I add it.
1
14 years ago
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マイコー
Level: 283
Ok, talked to a Japanese teacher about this. It is valid, but the usage is not (according to her) as general as simply just pairing two sentences.

Using the example that you gave, she said that it most likely (it is difficult to tell without context) that the part prior to the が is previously known knowledge (to the listener), while the part following it is new information. She wasn`t 100% confident that this was the only way it could be used in the joining sense, but said that this usage definitely exists.

Hope this helps!
2
14 years ago
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kawaii_inu
Level: 1
Oh, I see!!!! Sorry for getting you in so much trouble! I really appreciate it!!
1
14 years ago
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マイコー
Level: 283
*laughs* no trouble at all - it was new to me, so it helped out!
1
14 years ago
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Level:
I have heard conflicting things about using が vs. けど to contrast clauses. Most natives I have asked say that が is generally used after verbs/adjectives in polite form, and けど is used after the dictionary form. Various textbooks also say something along these lines. But at the same time, I see and hear countless examples of this 'general rule' being thrown out the window. What's the consensus on this? けど is undoubtedly somewhat less formal, but is it fine to use が after plain inflections? Is there a difference in nuance or something?
1
13 years ago
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マイコー
Level: 283
These pages do not get as much traffic as the forums do (I wish I could figure out a way to fix that) - and this is a really interesting question, so you may want to post in the forums as well.
1
13 years ago
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Belgand
Level: 1
I happened across this [url=http://nihonshock.com/2010/02/particles-the-difference-between-wa-and-ga/]explanation of the difference between 「は」 and 「が」[/url] and thought it might be useful. It does a pretty good job of getting into the details of this fairly tricky concept.
2
13 years ago
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beru123
Level: 1
べますが。 べません。 はベルです。 any body want talk with Japanese means mail me. we will chat.
1
12 years ago
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IJamLegend
Level: 1
Is there literally no rules as to what you can put the が after? If so, this seems preferable to けど because there's less chance i'll mess up in speech haha
1
10 years ago
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Level: 122

First off, thanks to Belgand for that review, I think I'm getting the idea of 「は」Vs「が」but I'm still left with a question.

He said that "「が」 is also used when utilizing き, い, and other adjectives." so would that mean that a sentence such as 「い。」would make sense in this spectrum? If so, would this purely be adding an emphasis to the fact that today and not some other day is cold?


Thanks in advance :)

2
8 years ago
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|マルコ|
Level: 110

This usage below of が at the end of the sentence is missing: link
ののしるちをす。ける。「この鹿ものめ―」

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4 years ago
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マイコー
Level: 283

Do you have an example of this?

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4 years ago
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|マルコ|
Level: 110

yes, from that previous link:

usage:
にののしる「め」をったものにいて)ののしりのめる。

examples sentences:

「この鹿ものめが」

「このあほうめが」

「あいつめが」

Given how it is used, right now I'm friendly calling it "the cursing が" 

1
4 years ago
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マイコー
Level: 283

Added!

1
4 years ago
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