Remembering the usage of が, は, & を?

[fatum]

What's a good method to remember the usage for each of the particles mentioned in the title? I believe that は is used to represent new information, and が is used to represent information that's supposedly already known to the listener. を is used to represent the most important subject in the sentence? It could almost feel like "the X?"

Could を almost be used as a sarcastic particle too? As if you're poking fun at the listener. "Ohohoho, THE X?" Haha that's just something that crossed my mind, so I'm just curious.

What do you guys recommend as a good method for remembering the place for は, が, & を?

[ryuurui]

look up here
Japanese Grammar Guide | Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese

[hitokiri679]

While the info on that page is basically correct, I do not like the way he teaches these particles at all.

This is definitely a topic you'll have to come back to multiple times before you understand every nuance, but I'll try to help you understand the most basic points.

First, the particles が and を are never interchangeable. At the most basic, が marks the subject of a verb, を is for the direct object, and a third particle, に, marks the indirect object. So in "I kicked the ball to him", "I" is the subject, "the ball" is the direct object, and "to him" is the indirect object. In English, only the indirect object has a preposition, but in Japanese every one of these is marked with a particle.

Each of these also has other uses, but they are unrelated to the places where は is also involved.

は itself has two basic meanings - it marks a "topic", or it marks contrast. In Japanese, the topic of a sentence is often the same as the subject, in which case it overrides が. It's also possible for the direct object to be a topic (this creates emphasis on the object), in which case を is replaced with は. If you understand this much, you're ready to start tackling the difference between subject and topic and get into the practical differences between は and が.

To answer your question, not quite. は is generally used whenever you simply want to make a "comment", that is, present (new) information about the topic, which by necessity is someone/something *the speaker and listener must know the identity of*.

So you've got it a bit backwards. One of the places where you revert to が is where the subject is a question word.

ex. だれが　きますか。 / Dare ga kimasu ka? / *Who* will come?

In this case, the listener might know who "dare" is, but the speaker certainly doesn't, so it is a subject, but not a topic.

In more complex sentences, there are other reasons why you might use は or が, and because the subject is not necessarily the same as the topic, you can also have both in the same sentence.

I know I really skimped on what makes a topic, but please tell me if any of that doesn't make sense.

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by hitokiri679

First, the particles が and を are never interchangeable.

Well, they're interchangeable (although the nuance changes) in things like ピザを食べたい vs ピザが食べたい. But you're 99% correct.

I just came across a book written by one of the guys who translates Murakami into English. Amazon.com: Making Sense of Japanese: What the Textbooks Don't Tell You (Power Japanese Series) (Kodansha's Children's Classics) (9784770028020): Jay Rubin: Books

He does a wonderful job of explaining, from the perspective of a native English speaker who also speaks Japanese fluently at a literary level, the difference between は and が. It's a very lucid, detailed, and enjoyable explanation.

[hitokiri679]

Ah, good point. Wasn't thinking that far ahead.

And that is indeed an excellent book. Now that I think of it, that was probably the first decent explanation of は and が that I read.