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は vs が: what's the difference
Every learner of Japanese asks this sooner or later, and the textbook answer — "は marks the topic, が marks the subject" — helps almost nobody: in English topic and subject usually coincide, so the distinction has nothing to hook onto.
What works is different: put the same sentence twice, once with は and once with が, and watch what moves. The difference is almost never grammatical — it is about focus, about where the new information sits.
The rule that beats all the others: where the new information is
が introduces what the listener doesn't know yet; は talks about something already on the table. That's why 「誰が来ましたか」 is answered with 「田中さんが来ました」: the news is who. A moment later, once Tanaka is known, you say 「田中さんは学生です」. Same person, different particle, because what counts as new has changed.
は doesn't mark the subject (and often doesn't mark that at all)
は can take the place of を or other particles: 寿司は食べません means "sushi, I don't eat", where sushi is the object, not the subject. That is why the equation "は = subject" misleads from day one: は says what we are talking about, whatever grammatical role that thing plays.
The contrastive は
Putting は on a word almost always implies a silent comparison: コーヒーは飲みます suggests "...tea, not so much". It is also why は turns up so often in negative sentences — you deny one thing while implying the opposite holds for the rest.
In a long sentence, は reaches further
Scope is the one genuinely technical difference: は governs to the end of the sentence, stepping over subordinate clauses; が stays inside its own. That's why relative clauses take が — 私が作った料理, "the dish I made" — and a は in there would jump out and govern the whole sentence instead.
Five pairs, one character apart
Same sentence, different particle. Read them aloud one after the other: you feel the focus shift before you can explain it.
When が isn't a choice
In these cases the particle is compulsory: there is no nuance to weigh, it is が and that's that. Learning them removes half the doubt.
| When | Example |
|---|---|
| Questions with a question word, and their answers誰・何・どれ | 誰が来ましたか誰が来ましたか → 田中さんが来ました. Never 誰は. |
| With 好き, 嫌い, 上手, 欲しい好き・嫌い・上手 | 日本語が好きですWhat you like is the grammatical subject, not the object. |
| Existence: ある and いるある・いる | 部屋に人がいますWhenever you introduce something for the first time. |
| Perception and ability: 見える, 聞こえる, できる見える・聞こえる・できる | 富士山が見えますHere too, our object becomes the Japanese subject. |
| Inside a subordinate clause〜が…する（従属節） | 私が作った料理は doesn't go into relative clauses: 私が作った料理. |
私は作った料理 is not impossible to say, but the は would attach to the main clause and the meaning would shift — exactly the kind of mistake that goes unnoticed by the person making it.
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Frequently asked questions
Almost always yes, but the focus of the sentence changes: saying 私が学生です when you meant 私は学生です sounds like answering a question nobody asked. It is one of the errors that mark a non-native speaker most clearly.
One: if the word answers "who?" or "what?", it usually wants が. If you are talking about something already known, it wants は. And with 誰 or 何 in the sentence it is always が.
Because they do different jobs and aren't competing: 私 is the topic — who we're talking about — and 寿司 is the grammatical subject of 好き. Sentences like this are the norm, not an exception.
As a particle it is read wa: it is the one reading exception that really matters at the start, along with へ read as e. Inside an ordinary word it stays ha, as in 花.
In everyday speech, very often: 寿司、好き? works fine between friends. Particles fall away when context carries the sentence — but in writing and in the exam you need all of them.