Quote:
Originally Posted by chryuop
Masaeguさん. Then is it correct saying that if I reply 僕は行きます you will assume that I might go to the shop alone, but I might as well go with someone else?
Someone once told me that は assumes a value of "at least". Yet, is that why you prefer using は with negative phrases? I know they might sound silly questions, but Maxful is right...は and が is a topic that Japanese learners will never understand 100% 
P.S. 田中です goes with the が phrase? Since it is an absolute remark that leaves no doubt it should go with an absolute certainty and 僕が offers it. |
Under one condition, you could answer that question with 僕は行きます. The condition is that the other person states that he needs a couple of guys to go before he asks "Who will go?". Still, I would think that more of us would say it with が. Then a second person would say it with も.
は can imply "at least" when used in certain types of context, but the context that we are discussing is not quite one of them. When you say something like "Kansas City has A and B, but not C or D.", は would come in handy. 「カンザス・シティーにはＡとＢ
はあるが、ＣとＤはない。」 In this sentence, the は in red can imply "at least".
I'm not sure if one could safely say that we prefer using は in negative phrases because we often use が in negative phrases as well that could not be replaced by は. e.g. 「今年は雨があまり降らなかった。」、「バスが来ない 。なんで？」、「ボブが見当たらない。」, etc.