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masaegu (Offline)
永遠の愛
 
Posts: 2,573
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Central Tokyo
09-19-2011, 03:25 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Maxful View Post
Hi, I would like to know why "が" was preferred instead of "は" in this sentence: Yahoo! JAPAN IDでのログインが必要です

My reason is, since this is a normal phrase and short sentence then shouldn't the latter be used instead?

Do kindly correct me if I am wrong. Thanks.
You are asking a beginning question only a few minutes after asking an advanced question.

「Yahoo! JAPAN IDでのログインが必要です」 is completely correct and natural. How could they use an incorrect phrase when millions of people read it everyday?

The 「が」 is not even just preferred but is the only possible particle to use there. It is so because the phrase is identifying what is needed to do something. It is not talking about 「Yahoo! JAPAN IDでのログイン」.

Your "normal and short" theory has a big hole in it. How would you explain something like 「バナナが好きです。」 then? Is that not "short and normal"? It uses 「が」 because it identifies what the speaker likes. It is not talking about bananas.

To talk about bananas, use 「は」. 
「バナナは南国でとれる果物です。」
「バナナはイチゴより安い。」


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Last edited by masaegu : 09-19-2011 at 03:37 AM.