Quote:
Originally Posted by Maxful
I am not sure, to be honest. 説明してもよろしでしょうか。  |
OK but that means "
May I explain?"
You can say:
説明していただけますか。
説明してください。
説明をお願いします。
etc.
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1. Face to face:
先生：あなたはどなたですか。
田中：私
は田中です。
2. In the class/office with a group of people:
先生：田中さんはどなたですか。
田中：私
が田中です。
The answer is #1. As you already know, we don't use pronouns too often. You can say 「田中です。」、「田中といいます。」、「田中と申し ます」 to mean "My name is Tanaka." We rarely use first-person pronouns to tell names because the listener(s) will know for sure whose name it is that you are telling them. In this situation, the pronoun is not important in the Japanese culture (& language). We can perfectly communicate without using one.
In #2, however, you cannot just say 「田中です。」. Why not? Because your teacher already has the name 田中. S/He just doesn't know which one of you is 田中. Accordingly, you cannot omit the first-person pronoun. 「私が田中です。
」 means "
I am Tanaka." with the accent on the "I". The pronoun here is very important unlike in #1.
The reason I asked this question is to illustrate the fact that there is always a reason for using が. When you use は, "the subject + は" part may often be omitted but it will not hurt the communication.
Not so with が. "The subject + が" cannot be omitted for comunication. I wish I could show you how to say the answer part of each example. The 私 part in 私は and 私が must be pronounced with a striking difference. Same thing with "I do." and "
I do."