The Japanese particle “ga”: What it’s for and when to use it (and not “wa”)

Written by Richard Webb | September 25, 2020

The particle “ga”「が」 is probably one of the most misunderstood due to its apparent similarities to the particle “wa”「は」. However, “ga”「が」 itself is actually surprisingly straightforward.

In this article, we will look at the purpose of the subject particle “ga”「が」, as well as compare it to “wa”「は」 to see why these two particles are so easily confused. We will also look at some situations where “ga”「が」 is more commonly used, and why “ga”「が」 is preferred over “wa”「は」 in those situations.

Note: There is another, unrelated use of the particle “ga”「が」 used at the end of sentences or clauses with a meaning similar to “but”. We will not be discussing that here, as this article focuses solely on “ga”「が」 as a subject-marking particle.

What is the particle “ga”「が」?

This particle has one, clear function:

The particle “ga”「が」 marks the subject of a verb. That is, it tells us who or what performs the action.

That’s it.

Every sentence has a verb (or predicate), and whatever comes before “ga”「が」 is the person or thing that performs the action described by that verb.

Let’s look at a few examples:

Yūto ate sushi.

Yūto ate sushi.

Yūto ga sushi wo tabemashita.

ゆうと すし を たべました。

ゆうとすしをべました。

Here, Yuto is the one performing the act of eating, so he is marked by the particle “ga”「が」. If you’re thinking, ‘Why not “wa”「は」?’, keep reading – we’ll get to that.

Sana ga kuruma de gakkō ni ikimashita.
Sana went to school by car.

Sana went to school by car.

Sana ga kuruma de gakkō ni ikimashita.

さな くるま で がっこう に いきました。

さなくるま学校がっこうきました。

Similarly, Sana is the person that went, so she is the subject, marked by “ga”「が」.

Haruto no inu ga bōru wo oikakemashita.
Haruto’s dog chased the ball.

Haruto’s dog chased the ball.

Haruto no inu ga bōru wo oikakemashita.

はると の いぬ ボール を おいかけました。

はるとのいぬボールをいかけました。

This time, the subject is slightly more complex, but the same rules apply. “Haruto’s dog” is the one doing the chasing, so “Haruto no inu”「はるとのいぬ is marked by “ga”「が」.

hon ga tsukue ni arimasu.
The book is on the desk.

The book is on the desk.

hon ga tsukue ni arimasu.

ほん つくえ に あります。

ほんつくえにあります。

Finally, this example shows that the thing doing the action doesn’t have to be a person, and the action also doesn’t have to be particularly active. The book is the thing that is “being” (arimasuあります) on the table, so “hon”ほん is the subject marked by “ga”「が」.

In each of these sentences, the word or phrase before “ga”「が」 represents the person, animal or thing performing the action.

The role defined by “ga”「が」 is really that simple.

To use “ga”「が」 or “wa”「は」 – that is the question

What’s not simple is the fact that, much of the time, “ga”「が」 is essentially replaced by “wa”「は」. For example, all of the above sentences can be re-written with “wa”「は」 used in place of “ga”「が」.

Why?

Because “wa”「は」 defines the topic of a sentence, which is what the sentence is talking about.

At the same time, as we know, “ga”「が」 defines the subject, which is the person who performed the action.

In many cases, these refer to the same thing – that is, many sentences are primarily talking about the person who performed the action.

Sometimes the subject IS the topic
Sometimes the subject IS the topic

When this happens, “wa”「は」 takes over, and slightly changes the emphasis of the sentence in the process.

The difference between Topic and Subject

To better understand the difference between a topic and a subject, let’s try a different example:

As for tomorrow, rain will fall. (ie. It will rain tomorrow.)

ashita wa ame ga furimasu.

あした は あめ が ふります。

明日あしたあめります。

This is what each particle tells us here:

wa – The topic of the sentence is “ashita”明日あした, meaning “tomorrow”.

ga – The thing that performed the act of falling (the subject) is “ame”あめ, meaning “rain”.

So, this sentence is talking about tomorrow (the topic), but the main action being described – falling – will be performed by the rain (the subject).

In this case, the topic (tomorrow) and subject (rain) are distinctly different things, so it’s easier to know which particle to use where.

We can kind of see the key difference between these two in our trusty sentence structure diagram:

(Read here if you haven’t seen this before).

Firstly, I should note that the only element we must use to form a sentence is the verb. Everything else is grammatically optional, so it is fine that our earlier examples didn’t include a topic.

Secondly, we can see that “ga”「が」 is inside the “other information” section. Notice that all the other elements in that section are very directly involved in the action.

Things like the object (what the action was done to), the location (where the action took place), and the destination (for actions involving movement) all tells us a specific detail that relates directly to the action. The subject, marked by “ga”「が」, also does this.

The topic, however, is different. It doesn’t relate directly to the verb, but rather it provides contextual information for the action being described, which includes the verb itself plus all of the things that do relate directly to it.

This is why I have the English translation of the example above starting with, “As for tomorrow…”. This is to emphasize that in the Japanese sentence, “tomorrow” is the topic of the sentence, which tells us that we are talking about “tomorrow” when we say, “rain will fall”.

ashita wa ame ga furimasu.
As for tomorrow, rain will fall. (ie. It will rain tomorrow.)

In case you’re wondering, yes, it’s possible to remove the “wa”「は」 from this sentence and just say:

Tomorrow, it will rain. (literally: rain will fall)

ashita, ame ga furimasu.

あした、 あめ が ふります。

明日あしたあめります。

In the version where “wa”「は」 is used, the time element has become the topic. This subtly changes the emphasis, but that’s not something we’ll get into now. If you’re interested, my article about the difference between “wa”「は」 and “ga”「が」 should hopefully shed some light on this.

In the meantime, the main point to recognize here is that any element (not just the subject) can be made into the topic of a sentence.

What to do when the Topic IS the Subject

As mentioned, however, there are many, many situations where the sentence is primarily talking about the person who performed the action.

When that happens, the topic IS the subject, so “wa”「は」 takes over and replaces “ga”「が」.

This happens A LOT.

Let’s take our first example from earlier.

Yūto wa sushi wo tabemashita.
Yūto ate sushi.

Yūto ate sushi.

Yūto ga sushi wo tabemashita.

ゆうと が すし を たべました。

ゆうとがすしをべました。

We know, thanks to “ga”「が」, that Yūto did the eating. However, we’re more likely to see this action expressed as follows:

Yūto wa sushi wo tabemashita.
Yūto ate sushi.

Yūto ate sushi.

Yūto wa sushi wo tabemashita.

ゆうと すし を たべました。

ゆうとすしをべました。

Instead of using “ga”「が」 to make Yūto the subject, we have used “wa”「は」 to make Yūto the topic. That’s right – the subject has been made into the topic.

An arguably more accurate way to re-phrase this sentence in English might be:

As for Yūto, (he) ate sushi.

This seems like a roundabout way of expressing this in English, but because Yūto is marked by “wa”「は」, not “ga”「が」, the person who did the eating (the subject) is not directly defined.

Instead, the speaker opens by saying something like, “On the topic of Yūto”, and then describes an action that relates to that topic.

So, what difference does it make?

Generally speaking, “wa”「は」 is used to define the context for the new or important information that the sentence is conveying.

By contrast, “ga”「が」 is usually used when the subject – the person or thing performing the action – IS the new or important information.

Let’s look again at the two versions of our example:

Yūto ate sushi.

Yūto wa sushi wo tabemashita.

ゆうと は すし を たべました。

ゆうとはすしをべました。

Here, Yūto is not considered new information – he is simply included in order to provide context for the rest of the sentence. That way, we know who is being talked about in relation to the eating of the sushi. That he ate sushi is the main point being conveyed by this sentence.

Now here’s the “ga”「が」 version:

Yūto ate sushi.

Yūto ga sushi wo tabemashita.

ゆうと が すし を たべました。

ゆうとがすしをべました。

In this case, the use of “ga”「が」 implies that Yūto is new or important information, not just context behind some other point being made. In contrast with the “wa”「は」 example, the main point of this sentence is that it was Yūto who did the eating of the sushi. The “who” is important. This is more likely to be used in response to a question like, “who ate the sushi?”.

Put simply, “ga”「が」 places more emphasis on the person or thing that it marks, while “wa”「は」 shifts that emphasis away from the thing it marks and onto the information that follows.

For a more in-depth discussion of this, see my article, The difference between the particles “wa”「は」 and “ga”「が」.

Situations where “ga”「が」 is more commonly used

While “wa”「は」 often replaces “ga”「が」 to turn the subject of a sentence (the person doing the action) into the topic (what the sentence is talking about), there are a few situations where “ga”「が」 is much less likely to be pushed aside. Let’s look at some.

Using “ga”「が」 with “arimasu”「あります」 and “imasu”「います」

The verbs “arimasu”「あります」 and “imasu”「います」 both mean “to be” or “is”. They are used to say that something exists, often in a particular location.

(This is not to be confused with “desu”「です」, which means “to be” when describing two things as being equal – see my article about “desu”「です」 for more on this).

“Arimasu”「あります」 is used for inanimate objects, while “imasu”「います」 is used with living, breathing things like people and animals.

The two main uses of these words are:

  1. To say where someone or something is, for example, “Akari is at school”.
  2. To say that someone or something exists or “is”, for example, “There is a book on the desk”.

In the first case, “wa”「は」 is more commonly used because the new or important information is the “where”, not the person or thing that is being talked about:

Akari wa gakkō ni imasu.
Akari is at school.

Akari is at school.

Akari wa gakkō ni imasu.

あかり は がっこう に います。

あかりは学校がっこうにいます。

We won’t talk more about this now, but you can learn more about describing the locations of things (and the particle “ni”「に」) here.

The second case is what we’re interested in here.

When we want to say that someone or something exists or “is”, “ga”「が」 is most commonly used to mark the person or thing that is “being”. Let’s take a look:

kaban ni hon ga arimasu.
There is a book in the bag.

There is a book in the bag.

kaban ni hon ga arimasu.

カバン に ほん が あります。

カバンにほんがあります。

The fact that a book is in the bag is new information, so we use “ga”「が」.

We can modify this to add context by including a topic. Usually when this is done, the resulting sentence describes someone or something as “having” the thing that “is”. Let’s try it:

Akari wa hon ga arimasu.
Akari has a book.

Akari has a book.

Akari wa hon ga arimasu.

あかり は ほん が あります。

あかりはほんがあります。

Remember, “ga”「が」 defines the person or thing doing the action, and the action in this case is “being”. Just as before, when Akari wasn’t mentioned, the book is the thing that is being, hence it is marked by “ga”「が」. By itself, this gives us:

There is a book. (Or perhaps: A book is being.)

hon ga arimasu.

ほん が あります。

ほんがあります。

Meanwhile, the topic of the sentence is Akari, which gives us context for this “action”. That is, the existence of the book is described in a sentence that is talking about Akari. A more literal translation might therefore be:

As for Akari, there is a book.

Akari wa hon ga arimasu.

あかり は ほん が あります。

あかりはほんがあります。

Of course, this sounds silly, so a more natural English translation would be simply, “Akari has a book”.

If we want to, we can also include other information, like the fact that the book is in the bag. Here’s that sentence from before:

There is a book in the bag.

kaban ni hon ga arimasu.

カバン に ほん が あります。

カバンにほんがあります。

Now let’s add the topic of “Akari”「あかり」:

Akari wa kaban ni hon ga arimasu.
Akari has a book in her bag.

Akari has a book in her bag.

Akari wa kaban ni hon ga arimasu.

あかり は カバン に ほん が あります。

あかりはカバンにほんがあります。

Notice here that in the English translation, “the bag” also ends up being “her bag”, since the context of “Akari”「あかり」 applies here too.

This is not a literal translation – it’s just the natural way to express this in English. While not explicitly stated, in Japanese, we would assume that it is “her” bag since we’re talking about Akari, and there is no mention of any other potential owners.

This last point highlights a general difference between Japanese and English.

In English, the connection between people and things, and between people and actions, is usually very direct. “She has a book”, “She ate sushi”, etc.

In Japanese, that connection is usually more indirect or implicit – “As for her, there is a book”, “As for her, ate sushi”.

Generally, Japanese speakers tend to talk more about things happening, as opposed to English speakers who tend to talking about people doing things.

Some fascinating studies have even indicated that this kind of linguistic difference actually affects the way we view the world, which to me implies that you can’t really understand a culture until you understand its language.

Lastly, an example like this using “imasu”「います」 might be:

Akari wa onēsan ga imasu.
Akari has an older sister.

Akari has an older sister (or: As for Akari, there is an older sister.)

Akari wa onēsan ga imasu.

あかり は おねえさん が います。

あかりはおねえさんがいます。

Hopefully, you won’t ever find yourself needing to add “kaban ni”「カバンに」 to this sentence… though you can add similar details if it makes sense.

Using “ga”「が」 with adjectives

Building on the above, sentences that use adjectives to describe something also often include both “wa”「は」 and “ga”「が」 in a single sentence. The reasoning is very similar.

Let’s start with a very basic sentence:

sushi ga oishī desu.
The sushi is delicious.

The sushi is delicious.

sushi ga oishī desu.

すし が おいしい です。

すしがおいしいです。

Note that the “Verb” label from our original diagram has been changed to “Predicate” here. Generally, “predicate” is a more accurate name, but “Verb” is obviously much easier to understand so I use that as long as it’s correct. Read my article about “desu”「です」 to learn more.

Now, this by itself would often have the “ga”「が」 replaced by “wa”「は」 in many contexts. As mentioned earlier, there is a subtle difference in nuance, which I cover more in my article about the difference between “wa”「は」 and “ga”「が」.

Importantly, however, we should note that whichever particle we use, “sushi”「すし」 is the thing doing the action.

In this case, the action is “being delicious”.

(Easily misunderstood, the word “desu”「です」 is another verb meaning “to be” that is distinct from “imasu”「います」 and “arimasu”「あります」. For a deep dive into “desu”「です」 itself, read here).

Let’s now add a separate topic and see what happens:

This shop has delicious sushi.
This shop has delicious sushi.

This shop has delicious sushi.

kono mise wa sushi ga oishī desu.

この みせ は すし が おいしい です。

このみせはすしがおいしいです。

Let’s break this down:

  • As the topic marked by “wa”「は」, “kono mise”「このみせ (this shop) is what is being talked about.
  • As before, “sushi ga oishī desu”「すしがおいしいです」 means “the sushi is delicious”

Putting this together, a literal translation might be:

As for this shop, the sushi is delicious.

Of course, a more natural way to phrase this in English might be, “this shop has delicious sushi”, or “the sushi at this shop is delicious”.

You might also say “restaurant” instead of “shop”, since the word “mise”みせ is a fairly broad term that can also refer to a restaurant. The lesson here is that you should never take a direct translation for granted, even for individual words, or those that might seem simple and obvious. Even if the literal meaning is the same, the practical usage often differs.

Two common applications of this “… wa … ga [adjective] desu”「…は…が [adjective] です」 pattern are:

  1. To describe specific attributes of someone or something
  2. To talk about things we like

Here’s an example of the first:

Akari wa ashi ga nagai desu.
Akari has long legs.

Akari has long legs.

Akari wa ashi ga nagai desu.

あかり は あし が ながい です。

あかりはあしながいです。

The same logic applies as before, so this too could be translated literally as:

As for Akari, the legs are long.

Akari wa ashi ga nagai desu.

あかり は あし が ながい です。

あかりはあしながいです。

When talking about things we like, although it is completely unintuitive to an English-speaking brain, the logic is still the same. Let’s try it:

watashi wa sushi ga suki desu.
I like sushi.

I like sushi.

watashi wa sushi ga suki desu.

わたし は すし が すき です。

わたしはすしがきです。

What’s confusing here is that “like” in English is a verb, while “suki”き」 in Japanese is an adjective, so although their meanings are extremely similar, they don’t translate well from a grammatical standpoint.

To get around this, an alternative way of thinking about it might be to say that “suki”き」 means “liked”, with an important caveat – that the fact that it is liked MUST be attributed to somebody (ie. we can’t use “suki”き」 to describe something as being generally liked – a better word for that would be “ninki”人気にんき, meaning “popular”).

If we plug this into our sentence and try to create a more direct translation, we get something like this:

As for me, sushi is liked.

watashi wa sushi ga suki desu.

わたし は すし が すき です。

わたしはすしがきです。

That is, the topic is “watashi”わたし, and when talking about “watashi”わたし, sushi performs the act of “being liked”.

Noun phrases and dependent clauses

This is more advanced so we won’t go into much detail, but dependent clauses are a type of phrase that make up one part of a complex sentence.

Noun phrases, which combine a dependent clause with a noun, are particularly common in Japanese, so that’s what I will focus on.

To use an English example, “Akari bought sushi” is, by itself, a sentence.

One thing we can do with this sentence is modify it into a form that we can use in a larger sentence, while still keeping all of the information. Here’s one way of doing that:

the sushi that Akari bought

This is a noun phrase, and we can insert this into a larger sentence like so:

I ate the sushi that Akari bought.

In Japanese, we can do the same thing. Here’s the noun phrase by itself:

the sushi that Akari bought

Akari ga katta sushi

あかり が かった すし

あかりがったすし

And here it is inserted into the full sentence:

I ate the sushi that Akari bought.

watashi wa Akari ga katta sushi wo tabemashita.

わたし は あかり が かった すし を たべました。

わたしあかりがったすしべました。

This goes into our diagram like this:

watashi wa Akari ga katta sushi wo tabemashita.
I ate the sushi that Akari bought.

We can see that the whole phrase becomes the object, marked by “wo”「を」.

Importantly, “Akari” must be marked by “ga”「が」, not “wa”「は」.

Why?

Because Akari did the buying, but she is not the topic of the sentence.

As we know:

  • The particle “ga”「が」 marks the subject of a verb. That is, it tells us who or what performs the action.
  • Akari performed the act of buying.

Therefore, “Akari”「あかり」 should be marked by “ga”「が」 to make her the subject of the verb, “katta”った」.

Yes, “ga”「が」 is sometimes changed to “wa”「は」, but this only happens when the topic of the sentence and the person performing the action are the same.

Our sentence here, as a whole, is not about Akari – it’s about “watashi”わたし. Akari is just a contributor to one of the pieces of information within it.

Noun phrases and dependent clauses are, by definition, just one part of a larger sentence. They shouldn’t contain a separate topic because if they did, it would apply to other parts of the sentence too.

As such, when the doers of any actions inside a noun phrase or dependent clause are explicitly mentioned, they must be marked by “ga”「が」.

You can learn more about building complex noun phrases and using them in sentences in Chapter 10 of my book.

Key Takeaways

If not for the particle “wa”「は」, the particle “ga”「が」 would be extremely easy to understand as it has one, clear purpose:

The particle “ga”「が」 marks the subject of a verb. That is, it tells us who or what performs the action described by a verb.

Often “ga”「が」 is “overridden” because the person doing the action is also the topic of the sentence.

However, there are some cases where “ga”「が」 is more frequently used, particularly:

  • With the verbs “arimasu”「あります」 and “imasu”「います」 to say “there is…”
  • With adjectives (including “suki”き」, meaning “like” or “liked”), where the thing “being” the adjective is attributable to someone
  • In noun phrases and dependent clauses that include an action that is separate from the main action of the wider sentence, such as “Akari ga katta sushi”「あかりがったすし」 (the sushi that Akari bought)

For a deeper look at “ga”「が」 as it compares to “wa”「は」, read The difference between the particles “wa” and “ga”.

To better understand the role “ga”「が」 plays when used together with “wa”「は」 and adjectives, read Desu: What it means, and when and how to use it.

Or learn all of this and a lot more, including all the ins and outs of particles, adjectives and complex noun phrases, in my book, 80/20 Japanese.

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  1. Thanks a lot. Both this and the wa-vs-ga helped me a lot to understand the matter better.

    There are some cases, though, which are still confusing to me, like, e.g. when が replaces the object of the sentence as in:

    私は日本語がわかります。

    Here Nihon-go apparently is not the subject but the object of wakaru. So it’s a question of を vs. が.

    I guess a similar article about that might be interesting, too.

    1. I know this is an old comment but for anyone who does come across this and doesn’t understand why “wakaru” cannot be the object.

      わかる wakaru (“to understand”) is an Intransitive Verb and therefore cannot have a direct object. This is why GA is used.

      Only Transitive Verbs have Direct Objects and for that reason, they use the WO (o) particle.

      わかる wakaru (“to understand”) should not be used with the WO (o) particle. GA is used to directly state that IT IS Japanese (“Nihongo”) relating to the verb.

      There are also articles on other sites which cover Intransitive and Transitive Verbs.

  2. Hi Richard,

    It’s a really great article. I learned a lot!

    I have a question if you don’t mind. Can you explain how katta sushi works in “Akari ga katta sushi”? All I know is that you can use adjective+noun compound as in furui kuruma, but not yet aware of action verb + noun.

  3. The point of confusion for me is that in a sentence such as, “Akari has a book in her bag.”, book is the object of “to have”, as in possess, so in forming the Japanese sentence, I want to use wo, not ga.

    Comments?

    1. I know this is an old comment but for anyone who does come across this and doesn’t understand why the “book” is not the object.

      あります (“to have”) is an Intransitive Verb and therefore cannot have an object. This is why GA is used.

      Only Transitive Verbs have Direct Objects and for that reason, they use the WO particle.

      Because あります (“to have”) can’t be used with an object, GA is used to directly state that IT IS the “book” relating to the verb.

      There is also an article on this site which covers Intransitive and Transitive Verbs.

    2. I always read nouns with wa as „As for xy, …“ like it’s a subordinate clause. Then the book is the subject of the main clause, and naturally ga comes in. Almost as if you read „Akari no hon ga“. Just that then – to me – the focus is clearly in the book, and in the wa construct the focus is on Akari. But I‘m also only a beginner, and yet to grab all the subtleties…

  4. Thank you so much for this article. You explained very clearly and made it easier for me to understand better Japanese.

  5. Call me crazy, but, in English, the phrase "Tomorrow, rain will fall", Tomorrow is not the topic. Rain is.
    If I said "Yesterday, John murdered a family of four" no one would ever say that th topic is Yesterday. It's an adverb that modifies the verb "murdered".

    As far as I can tell, considering a day or weekend the topic is a Japanese thing that we don't do in English. In fact, in English, you wouldn't ever say the topic can be defined by a single word in the sentence. In my sentence, John murdering is the topic.

    Using the concept a "topic" to describe 'wa' stopped working for me as soon as it stopped being used interchangably with the subject. Personally, I think of 'wa' like a colon. "Yesterday: John only pretended to murder a family of four." or "John: he's an actor"

    But what do I know? I've only been learning Japanese for a few weeks.

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