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I thought if you say "I don't smoke cigarettes" that would be "[Watashi wa] tabako o suimasen". But I just saw something that said it would be "tabako wa suimasen". Are they interchangable? Is there a difference?

dotnetN00b
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1 Answers1

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There are actually three options.

  1. [タバコを吸いません]{LLLLLLLLL}
    tobacco-OBJ smoke-NEG-POLITE
    "I don't smoke tobacco."

  2. [タバコは吸いません]{LLLLLLLLL}
    tobacco-TOP smoke-NEG-POLITE
    "I don't smoke tobacco."

  3. [タバコは吸いません]{LLLHLLLLL}
    tobacco-CON smoke-NEG-POLITE
    "I don't smoke tobacco, (but I do smoke something else)."

1 and 2, (marking タバコ with the object marker and topic marker, respectively), are semantically the same.

However, 3 (marking タバコ with the contrastive marker, which is also は but has a raised pitch) has the implication that you smoke something else.

So, to answer your question, for a transitive verb, marking the object with を or は both always work (assuming that you aren't constructing an embedded clause), but depending on how は is pronounced, it can potentially have the contrastive meaning.

Darius Jahandarie
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  • "assuming that you aren't constructing an embedded clause"... well since we're on the subject, how would the sentence look if that was the case (in an embedded sentence)? – dotnetN00b Oct 08 '13 at 04:29
  • (2) is not possible in an embedded clause, (1) and (3) are. That means you need to use を if you don't want the contrastive reading. – Darius Jahandarie Oct 08 '13 at 04:37
  • And while I'm at it, the example @snailboat gave, 私はタバコは吸いません is using the contrastive marker to mark タバコ (because after the first は, following はs must be contrastive). – Darius Jahandarie Oct 08 '13 at 04:45
  • I disagree with your pitch on #3. タバコはすいません【HHHLLLLLL】 to emphasize "tobacco" (just as you did with the italics in the English) seems more correct. But maybe that's a regional thing. – istrasci Oct 08 '13 at 17:16
  • @istrasci Dunno, this is a pretty common mistake that non-native speakers make (since that's how it's done in their native language), are you sure that's not what's happening with you? It could indeed be a regional thing, of course. – Darius Jahandarie Oct 08 '13 at 17:51
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    I found a couple of articles that talk about stressing the contrastive marker は. I've heard it this way but I can't say if that's the same as raised pitch, as I am not a native speaker. http://jlptbootcamp.com/2012/02/japanese-particles-the-contrastive-wa/ http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/reiko/Proceedings-WAFL5.pdf – user3169 Oct 08 '13 at 20:05
  • @user3169 The only mechanism Japanese has to stress things is pitch (unlike English where length is often extended as well). I didn't use the word "stress" because that often causes English speakers to do the wrong thing. – Darius Jahandarie Oct 08 '13 at 21:50
  • @istrasci Though, I could also write (3) as [タバコは吸いません]{HHHHLLLLL}. I think the binary notation is being more harmful than helpful here, the real thing that's happening is that there's a downstep after the は, and タバコ has no downstep, so the pitch slowly increases until は and then drops. – Darius Jahandarie Oct 08 '13 at 21:57
  • @DariusJahandarie: Hmm, maybe that's what I what trying to get across after all. – istrasci Oct 08 '13 at 22:04