Quote:
Originally Posted by Maxful
Thanks for the help, masaegu san. 
I have another question which is regarding translating "I will not give up" into Japanese. Should I say "僕はあきらめない" or "僕があきらめない"?
I am still having many problems with particles such as "が", etc. Anyway, there was this song title "僕が僕であるために" and I am very curious to know what does it mean? |
You should definitely use 「僕
はあきらめない」.
Say it with
が and we won't even know what you're talking about. We would ask you "Who is/are the other guy/guys that you're talking about?" I am not exaggerating one bit here. If you place extra stress on the word "I" in the sentence "
I won't give up.", that's the equivalent of 僕があきらめない.
Use はwhen you simply want to say "I do/don't ~~~.", "I am/am not ~~~.", etc.
Use が when saying "
I am the one who ~~~." It's not Tom and it's not Mary but it's
you. It's you out of a group or out of the whole world.
「私が買った車」= the car that I bought. It's not anyone else's car but yours. Native speakers, including toddlers, will NEVER say this with は.
Maxful: 誰がコンビニに行ってきてくれる？ Who will go to the convenience store for me?
Masaegu: ボクが行きます。
I will.
This is が 100% of the time. You are volunteering to go out of the group.
When you can use all the particles correctly, that's when your Japanese studies end. So, it will never end.
_________
僕が僕であるために = For me to be me. In other words, "For me to be myself"