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Questions tagged [particle-は]

助詞「は」. Indicates the topic of a sentence or shows contrast in the universe of discourse.

The particle "は" (pronounced "wa") can be used to:

  • indicate the topic of sentence (彼{かれ}は学生{がくせい}です, lit. "regarding him, he is a student")
  • show contrast in the universe of discourse (彼{かれ}は学生{がくせい}です, lit. "as for him, he is a student")

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How is というのは different from は?

だが、十香のいる水族館と目と鼻の先というのは、精神衛生上あまりよろしくなかった。 Context: the protagonist (士道) is dating 十香 and they went to 水族館 together. But in the process of watching fishes in 水族館, 士道 runs away, pretending to go to the restroom because he has to date another girl,…
chino alpha
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Am I correctly using は and が here.

A friend mentioned that he's sometimes not understood well in English. I thought his English was perfectly OK. I responded, それはそうだかもしりませんが私があなたの言うことは通じます Am I using these particles correctly? Or should I have…
A.Ellett
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Multiple は particles in a sentence

I came across the following sentence in a website: 人々は月はチーズの球だと考えました This sentence seems to have two topic particles: 人々 is the topic of the main sentence because "people thought something" (人々は...考えました). The と particle marks what people thought,…
Gabu
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Which は is this?

A過去の通知はありません There are no past notifications B参加予定のイベントはありません There are no planned events. C(あなたは)メッセージがありません You have no messages. In A and B, it can either be the main topic or the contrastive は as in: (あなた(に)は)過去の通知はありません。 This would emphasize…
美しい孤独
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About the Verb1+ては+Verb2 structure

Background According to the 大辞林, the particle は can be used to emphasize a description after attaching to the 連用形 of a verb followed by the particle「て・で」. Example: 少なくとも分かってはいる。 I think this emphasizing function stems from the usual "contrast…
kiyopi
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Is there any rule to indicate when "circumstantials" of time can be the topic (marked with は) of the sentence?

In Spanish there is something called circumstantials which indicate time, place, means, cause, etc where an action is done. For example, in English a circumstancial of time could be translated as "in the summer". Now I know Japanese is a language…
Pablo
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Can someone explain the contrastive は to me?

Can someone explain to me how the contrastive は works? As I still don't get it. How exactly does it work? Is it derived from it's topical cousin? How does it modify the topic of discourse? For example, I don't quite understand what the second…
Tirous
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How would saying "時には、" instead of "時に、" change to meaning of this paragraph?

complete paragraph: それを実際に役立たせたいなどとは、まったく思っていませんでした。しかし、われわれが最初のiPhoneを設計している時に、それが私の脳裏によみがえってきたのです。 I never thought I'd make use of that (an idea discussed earlier). But, when we designed the first iPhone, i remembered that (idea). But what if I…
Just Someone
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Double は with 言っていました?

Is it suitable/permitted to use は twice when relaying what someone else said? E.g: ロバートさんはお母さんは料理するのが下手だと言っていました。
nwpullman
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Noun phrases before and after は

I was working on Duolingo and there is this sentence: My favourite food is sushi. I put down: 寿司は私の好物です, thinking "My favourite food is sushi" is essentially the same as "Sushi is my favourite food". Correct? It turns out that the correct answer…
monalisa
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Can は imply more than just topic?

On https://www.wasabi-jpn.com/japanese-grammar/ha-vs-ga-five-points-you-need-to-know/ there is this sentence: オレンジは好き It’s explained as “this indicates that you like oranges, but don’t like other fruits very much; that is to say, you generally…
user31035
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Why do we need "は" in "とは思う"

I do not know the grammatical meaning of "は" and when to add a "は" in between the quotative particle and the verb, namely "とは思う". Here is the example sentence without "は", 拡大終了かと思われた西之島にまだ拡大の望みはある事が判明 And the example sentence with "は". Q:…
chika
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4x"は" as Contrast Marker

Is the following sentence O.K.? そのようなブラシ付モーターが、 高い回転数領域では、確かに、優れた出力性能は発揮しますが、 惜しい事に、定常作動に於いては、結局、十分な静的性能は発揮しないという結果となります。 I am using for times "は" as contrast marker to indicate two contrasts. Contrast: 高い回転数領域では versus 定常作動に於いては Contrast:…
Kenny
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Why is "ashita kaerimasu" not "ashita wa kaerimasu"? is the particle wa being omitted or is it not necessary?

The sentence Ashita wa ame ga furu deshou uses a "wa" after ashita. But the sentence Ashita kaerimasu doesn't. Why is that? Is it being omitted or would it be wrong to say ashita wa kaerimasu ?
Pablo
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Difference between しておる and してはおる

Source sentence: 日本語能力を含め社会人として、まだまだ至らぬ身であると重々承知してはおりますが、是非、本件について連絡を頂きたく存じます。 For saying I humbly do something, I understand it's normal to say しておる instead of している. I read on this post that using a 'ha' basically makes it a conditional thing,…
Pootan
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