How about these? Somehow I feel two of the sentences may be wrong.

1a. 謝る必要はない、大丈夫だよ。

1b. 謝る必要はありません、大丈夫です。

2a. 謝る必要がない、大丈夫だよ。

2b. 謝る必要がありません、大丈夫です。

I thought we talked about 「は」 and 「が」 just 30 minutes ago.

1a. 謝る必要はない、大丈夫だよ。OK.

1b. 謝る必要はありません、大丈夫です。Good.

2a. 謝る必要がない、大丈夫だよ。 No good.

2b. 謝る必要がありません、大丈夫です。 No good.

Thanks, masaegu.

Anyway, I was actually trying to use "が" to come up with a sentence something like your example 「ビールがない国は少ない。」 (relative clauses). Do you mind showing me a couple of examples?

「謝る必要がないのでオレは謝らない。」 「が」 used in a sub clause.

「謝る必要がない人は田中君と小林君だ。」 「が」 used in a relative clause.

「明日テストがない人は登校しなくてよい。」　Relative clause. 「登校」 = going to school.

「ビールがなかったので買いに行った。」　Sub clause.

「ラジオでビートルズの曲がかからない日はない。」　Relative clause.

Thanks for the help, masaegu.

[quote=masaegu;875246]When you can drop the subject-marking particle, it is ALWAYS 「は」. You cannot drop 「が」.

I do not even know what 「ビールがありますか。」 means after having spoken Japanese for 5 decades as my native language.　

「ビールはない。」 = "There is no beer (to begin with).", "We don't serve beer.", "They don't serve beer."
「ビールがない。」 = "OMG the beer is gone! What happened?"
QUOTE]


I don't know why every Japanese text book I've ever picked up has always taught to use が

So let me get this straight.

You use は normaly just to state something isnt there, you dont have something, something isnt existing etc.

But when you use が it kinda means that something different or out of the ordanary has happened, like it is gone, or disppeared, ran away etc.

Beats me but then I was taught funny English in school, too, from which I still suffer.

Very good summary.

Just think which one takes more effort to pronounce as a single-syllable word. That is the one you use less often.

If you go into a store and ask if they carry a certain item, it is 「は」 100% of the time. Use 「が」 and your clerk will look perplexed for a second because he could not see any reason for you to be using 「が」.

Hi, could you please check if my translations are correct and help me out with the last one?


「謝る必要がないのでオレは謝らない。」
I will not apologise because there isn't a need to.

「謝る必要がない人は田中君と小林君だ。」
The persons who do not need to apologise are Tanaka and Kobayashi.

「明日テストがない人は登校しなくてよい。」　
People without test tomorrow do not need to attend/come to school.

「ビールがなかったので買いに行った。」　
There wasn't any beer left so I went to buy.

「ラジオでビートルズの曲がかからない日はない。」　

You have got the first four right.

The last one literally means "There is not a day when a Beatle's tune is not played on the radio."

Key words for Japanese-learners are 「曲（きょく）」 and 「かかる/かける」. I rarely hear them use these words.

Thanks, masaegu.

By the way, for number 3, can I also say "明日テストがない人は学校に来なくてもいい。"?

Also, what does "かからない" stand for for number 5?

Usually I use "かかる" like the following sentences

どのくらいかかりますか。
How long does it take?

この料理はいくらかかりますか。
How much does this cuisine cost?