Rough Guide Phrasebooks - Mkmouse.com.br

HOW THE LANGUAGE WORKS<br />
■ Postpositional Particles<br />
270<br />
ga follows the subject of a sentence, emphasises the<br />
subject<br />
wa follows the subject of a sentence<br />
o follows the object of a sentence<br />
ni follows the indirect object of a sentence; or means<br />
on, in, to, at (referring to time and location)<br />
e to (indicates motion towards); towards; until<br />
made to; up to; until; as far as<br />
kara from; since<br />
de by, by means of; with; at; on; in (referring to location)<br />
to with, accompanied by; and, that<br />
mo too, also; even; both ... and; neither ... nor<br />
no of; possessive<br />
ka? question particle<br />
ne? question tag: isn’t it?, haven’t we?, haven’t you? etc<br />
Subject Particles<br />
To indicate that a word is the subject of a sentence, the particles<br />
ga or wa are used:<br />
onaka ga sukimashita ka?<br />
[‘stomach’ + sub. part. + ‘empty’ + question part.]<br />
are you hungry?<br />
The particle ga can indicate that the subject of the sentence<br />
is more important than the text that follows. In English this<br />
distinction can be achieved by tone of voice:<br />
watashi ga ikimasu<br />
[‘I’ + sub. part. + ‘will go’]<br />
I will go, it’s me who’s going (not anyone else)<br />
watashi ga haraimasu<br />
[‘I’ + sub. part. + ‘pay’]<br />
I’ll pay (nobody else has to pay)<br />
If wa is used instead of ga, this gives less emphasis to the subject<br />
and more to the rest of the text: