Singling out items with どの group | Japanese From Zero! Video 38

[@japanesefromzero]

Power up your Japanese on FromZero.com (lessons, quizzes, games, ask-a-teacher)

[@ManuelSuarez-s1y]

OMG It breaks my heart to see so much authenticity . A hug from Ulyana😊

[@maryblewberrii]

I was in the middle of answering when he called me out by name "good job, Mary!" Scared me tbh 😂

[@HechiOkami]

You did good mary, you did good. People will remember you for many, many years and remember you doing a good job.

[@pureishatsu]

This episode was like when an anime I like has an unexpected cameo.

[@Clarissa9339]

Hello George, I'm really amazed by the fact, that I love to listen to your videos and that I actually understand them even if english is only my third language (after (swiss) german and french) and I do understand your explanations and they do help me. It's amazing because when teacher explained german, french or english grammar in school I had often difficulties to understand what they mean, because I didn't get the concept. I'm shure you already know but it's really useful that you make so many examples. To answer your question: For me it was really helpful that you paused and asked the question about wa and ga, because it showed me, that I’m not the only one struggling and that there is not a clear rule. It does not help me to choose the right particle, but it makes me confident that someday - if I continue learning Japanese - I will intuitively choose the right particle. Thank you a lot for your great work!

[@euancorbett1582]

A japanese friend once told me that she would use something like "this book GA" if she wanted to put emphasis on the book, like if you had said: "one of these 5 books on front of you is interesting" and she was asking: "is THIS BOOK the interesting one?" Thats the way I understood her explanation atleast.

[@AviArunOnFire]

Your friend is right. That's how I remember it too. WA stresses what comes after, GA stresses what comes before.

[@japanesefromzero]

I also have a video on this topic here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3TMenSOi9dkfLc

[@manuel0578]

Here's the test I use to decide between は and が which has worked very well for me (definitely most of the time, maybe even all the time): If you can leave out the part in front of the particle (は or が) and the sentence still makes sense then the correct particle to use is most likely は. If you leave out the part and the sentence becomes completely meaningless it's most likely が. So for the examples in the video: あかがいいです。leaving out あかが the sentence would be いいです。 Which would be a completely nonsensical answer to the question "Which color is good?" (and context is of course super important for which particle to choose!). So by my above rule the correct particle is が. Now for この本は面白いですか。If you leave out この本は the question still makes sense IF there's ONLY ONE book that you're holding or is directly in front of you. In that case you can easily ask 面白いですか。(again, context is important!). So by my above rule the correct particle is は. And this is the context George meant the question to be in I think. If there are multiple books in front of you then you would obviously have to point at one of them and ask 面白いですか。So even in the case of multiple books I would choose は because by pointing at one specific book asking 面白いですか。would still make sense even without the この本は part. and btw: Even though using が after どの色 is a hard rule anyway, my above rule works nonetheless ;) (just asking いいですか。doesn't make any sense so it has to be が)

[@alegagi1]

Most simple, adjectives use ga particle and hoshi also suki or kirai

[@shahamathhussain1168]

Omg that's so helpful!

[@alegagi1]

@Larbitos O_o You can use wa to emphasize, but the right way is using GA with adjectives

[@xiyalocan8535]

King!

[@keith2235]

i love the rants lol, always makes the videos more interesting to watch. x3

[@zeinad.216]

I am about 4 years late to this video, but I wanted to comment on the 'wa' and 'ga' point you had mentioned. Regardless of whether it is explained well or not, I think it is important to discuss these differences. Before this video I did not have a clear sense on when to use them, but watching you and Shiori-san try and explain their usage helped me develop my own understanding on how they should be used. In a previous video you had also mentioned some examples where people confuse particles/markers. You pointed out ways people incorrectly use them, rather than just pointing out the correct way. I saw that I had made some of these mistakes before and corrected them. Those videos helped me greatly in terms of improving the grammatical structure of my sentences and their naturalness. I hope that you continued explaining such concepts in the future videos you've uploaded! As always, thank you very much for all that you do for us!

[@bdfan4ever]

Oh wow, no joke, this is maybe like the 50th time I hear this video cause I listen to them OVER and OVER and I FINALLY understood the concept of why “kono hon wa” is the proper way to say it.

[@koreboredom4302]

Funny story. The first time I learnt about this system is that sponsor message at the start of almost every anime.

[@cyanure1320]

hahaha, i do the same thing, i talk japanese in the street, sometime i scream too, like , SUMIMASEN!!!, EKI WA DOKO NI ARIMASUKA !!!!

[@user-ri3up7ru4g]

“THIS PIZZA IS DELICIOUS!” Omg the way you said that, I laughed so hard xD

[@katerawlinson3188]

hahahah! I was literally eating pizza for lunch whilst watching. The pizza *was* delicious! I love your videos George. Thank you :-)

[@TechSpec814]

I came back to this video about a month or two after my initial watch. I just want to say that the "wa" and "ga" thing, which did trouble me at first, did just come naturally. It's weird, but you do eventually just know which one to use. Practice and exposure is probably what helped me

[@cherryzawhmwe]

Hi. I am currently learning English and Japanese. Learning Japanese with you, George, through your videos is fun and you are also a really excellent teacher for me . Your videos are precious and still helpful even these are 6 years ago.

[@jennqgoo]

Don't be hard on yourself,George!! You have done an excellent job explaining this to us. Ty ty!!

[@GrandHoopla]

The real problem with Katakana is that the words rarely sound close enough to English/other language, to help make sense of it. I try sounding it out a million times and it still sounds sooooo different, it would be easier if an actual Japanese word was used.

[@kumoric]

i think it sounds quite similar, and i'm sure you'll get used to it. also, you're getting stuck on 'oh, it would be easier if it was this way' when it's not that way, and you probably can't change it. i'm sorry this sounds rude, it's not meant to be. i think you should focus more on learning, than getting caught on 'why'.

[@SaiyanPrideX]

Happy birthday, dude! I saw in your vid a couple days ago your b-day was coming up, then I was watching this vid and remembered. You're the best Japanese instructor imo.

[@bangkokadventures298]

I'm at exactly 13:35 in the vid and I felt I needed to comment. My vote is to not fret over wa vs ga during these lessons. You said yourself that when to use them will come naturally over time anyway. Just my two cents. ;) Now to watch the rest.

[@balabearmidget5266]

This video was so well explained, I was able to figure out all of the examples just from your explanations and hints. ジョージー先生、 ありがとうございます！ あなたはすばらしいです！ あなたは日本の楽しみを作る。

[@JunGull]

Hey George, adding 汐里さん to your video was genius. I've asked several Japanese people on HelloTalk if they could help explain, and I came to a very similar conclusion that you did. "It just feels wrong." Language is what we make of it. I'm sure it would be hard for me to explain something an English and would find myself saying "it just sounds wrong" sometimes as well. And the perfect advice of "don't research it" is wonderful. You really understand how beginnings think!

[@manuel0578]

Well she didn't really know it either lol. As a native speaker of any language you don't really know why and how things work in general (unless you start studying your language the same way a person who's new to that language would!)

[@cherubin7th]

Funny is that in English there are also two systems upper and lowercase letters. This is not much different in complexity that hiragana and katakana.

[@gulgaffel]

Holy fuck i never thought about that.

[@kuro13wolf]

Very late here but with only a handful of exceptions all uppercase letters are merely scaled up and straightened versions of their lowercase variants. Katakana has some similarities with Hiragana but not nearly as many and they're not nearly as strong. Of course it's not a contest and I personally think Katakana is a much more handsome writing system than Hiragana and I find it very useful for detecting words I might already know from English.

[@tengkuadam1399]

@@kuro13wolf Also late to this but I completely agree. Katakana rarely looks simillar to their hiragana counterparts. It's made even more confusing by having some katakana characters be near identical to each other like シ and ッ or ン and ソ. There's no way around it, you have learn how to write them in order to identify which one is which.

[@xgcking]

i have the exact same thought

[@daveshusband2606]

I have to disagree actually katakana is way more difficult than uppercase and lowercase because 1. Uppercase is almost identical to lowercase 2. It doesn't necessarily have any rules sure u use uppercase at the beginning of a sentence but even if u dont it's not a problem cuz nobody cares apart from English teachers Idk if that's the same with katakana but knowing how complex Japanese is I'd say it makes a huge difference whether u use katakana or hiragana

[@Arvyle]

Shiori's addition is godlike! Now your videos became at least ten times better!

[@Edzward]

"HA and GA will come naturally to you" Just true! At the start I struggled to know where to use Ha or Ga. Now it just comes naturally without even thinking about. The best analogy I can think is, if you are a native English speaker you don't have to think about use "a" or "an", you don't need to think about the rule, it just comes.

[@mastermax7777]

and how long have u been learning japanese?

[@daveshusband2606]

I agree at first I didn't know how to use a or an It just came And there isn't many rules either It's just whatever sounds better Or more natural Fir example I used to say things like Can I have an lilipop it makes sense but u would sound like a Foreigner u could like he said even drop the a or an and People would know what he saying so i think it's the same with JAPANESE there isn't a specific rule how to use ga or wa

[@markyates9712]

This was one of the best videos I've ever watched in your channel !

[@Aeroxima]

I think the は and が thing was weird because on the previous ones, the assumption was the opinion being "good to you": [あなたは]どのいろがいいですか？ So on the "この本はおもしろいですか？", one might think, "but how do I say 'to you' if I already used the は?" But I think in this case, the part implied or not said is grammar beyond this lesson, not just は and が stuff. I wanted to ask, "how would you say 'Is this book interesting to you?', because even without knowing the answer, I feel like that might have cleared it up. After looking into it, the answer seems to be "あなたにとってこの本はおもしろいですか？", and it sounds like が can be used to emphasize "this book" more but maybe isn't the thing to use by default.

[@AthenasKiss]

Omg! The KA//GA trick relating to the speaker//you is EXCEEDINGLY helpful. Thank you! :D

[@joanmh45]

An easy way to remember how to use kono, sono, ano, and dono, is to look at the last two letters of each word: NO. NO is the beginning of the word NOUN in English, so these letters can remind learners that these words have to be followed by a noun. So, koNO hon (this book), soNO kuruma (that car). aNO hito (that person over there), doNO kippu (which ticket). Hope this is helpful.

[@Minastir1]

It is funny as an intermediate learner that's just reviewing things that I might have missed with this series that I got the は and が right just automatically without even thinking about it. He's correct with it becoming natural as you start using the language.

[@kennethkim1221]

This is by far the most omoshiroi episode since book 1. I laughed when he is correcting us and explaining the answer because I got it wrong haha. A lot of good examples in this one plus a cameo! On top of that, Joji is in sugar rush 😂😂😂 I'm loving your videos Sensei!

[@BluRakkun]

I'm still something of a beginner, but I think I can contribute something to the "interesting book" particle discussion. When you're asking if the book is interesting, you're not really asking for the person's opinion of the book, like when you ask which colour is good. The person may not have even read the book, but may have heard reviews about it, in which case, they can provide non-opinionated information about it. So, the person you're asking is not the topic of the discussion, only the book, hence the は marking the book. Now, if you really want to know their opinion about the book, you would probably have to clarify that you want to know what they think about it.

[@BluRakkun]

Also, when talking about colours, as well as expressing an opinion, you're really referring to the object that has the colour. You're saying that "[as for this object] red is good", hence が.

[@Akuryoutaisan21]

It's useful having Shiori's opinion on the show.

[@kyliedy3286]

thank you george i think im improving i hope you keep on making exercises like that where we think

[@rollforever85]

My trick for practicing phrases outloud in public is to hold my mobile phone up like I'm having a conversation. The weird looks people give you is a bonus xD

[@poxalmazro3e734]

In my opinion I think its best to ignore those kind of confusion and just keep going, the more you know the easier it will be to understand if you get back to it

[@1uan1mao]

George: Some people hate katakana Me: *BRUH WAIT TILL YOU LEARN KANJI*

[@ThinkForward0]

Kanji is my fav out of all the writing systems I like it because of its uniqueness and because it looks cool

[@LeinRa-Reaction]

I think I'm going to hate kanji bcos I'm learning mandarin alongside leaening japanese through this video series....

[@LastGhost12]

@@ThinkForward0 yeah kanji is cool but man that's gonna be the real challenge

[@arghydoodles1921]

@@LeinRa-Reaction Surely you should like it? You're gonna learn each quicker because they share it.

[@lysandermartinez8700]

You're the best teacher dude, thanks for your lessons 💪🏾💪🏾 毎日俺がimprove lol

[@japanesefromzero]

Thanks for saying such a nice thing. 頑張れ！

[@shuaiyuan4309]

Yeah, maybe change the examples to use the same particle at this point if you want. I'm a beginner, but I can feel the subtle difference and it is indeed hard to describe why it's different. Don't be upset George, this is great! Students need to face the fact that language is just not a simple set of rules! Thank you George!

[@dechillepeper]

just a tip that helps me between wa and ga, if the thing your talking about is being described with a verb(ex:arimasu, imase, kaerimashita etc), use ga, if the thing your talking about is being described by a noun or adjective(ex: kowai, kawaii, omoshiroi etc), use wa. helped me personally and havent made any mistakes yet because of this trick

[@anonisnoone6125]

In one of the course 1 GA videos, he said that GA is also used when the noun is being described. Now I'm seeing all these different comments on when to use it and I'm confused again.

[@dechillepeper]

@@anonisnoone6125 what im saying is a tool to help you pick the possibly correct particle. this rule im using has a lot of exeptions of course,but generally works most of the time. you shouldnt worry about a thing like wa and ga, the meaning of a sentence doesnt change depending on wether you use wa or ga. so just make mistakes and eventually you will naturally know wich one is correct.💪👍

[@princesskirsten88]

20:13 I always just watch these videos on the website but I laughed so hard at the “this pizza is delicious” section, I had to come comment on KZbin.

[@thequeenn00b]

I appreciate you going into wa vs ga. I think I'm starting to get a feel for it but it really is one of those language things that you need to develop an intuition for I guess. I think it's good to keep pointing out when they are interchangeable and when only one of them is correct/natural so that way we keep getting 'data points' for correct usage and we'll get it eventually. If you gloss over it I might have assumed that ga would be just as correct in this case so thank you!

[@kennethgatewood8195]

I know this is late but I would keep going with the lesson and assume we understand は and が. は and が is easy to understand I understood this by going on Pimsleur for a while and listening to the sentences. But what I’m saying is eventually it will click for everyone that’s learning Japanese at some point through the lessons.

[@JoachimderZweite]

Really good job Teacher. I will soon buy the third book.

[@黒いジャムス]

Best lesson so far. I liked the part where we were tested. More testing please.

[@pourushsood]

Let me tell you what I think about wa and ga. What I use as a trick is the question-answer form. When we say, which color is good, the answer is, red is good. Red is not the topic here, it pops up as one of the possible answers. When we say, is this book interesting? The answer will also have that particular, same book. Thus it is like a topic there, and wa sounds more natural.

[@Flying_turnip187]

This is great! You clarified it so easily!

[@Flying_turnip187]

The "wa" is there but not said before the "ga". Makes so much sense now! This is great!

[@professorwhat2704]

I have the first three books in the series, but I recently discovered the video series, so I've been watching it to try to solidify what I've learned, and this video made me feel like I've had a breakthrough. When you got to the part when you keyed in on the このほんは, I didn't feel stuck at all, because the は felt natural to me. I'm not claiming I've got it figured out, because I still screw them up a lot if I don't put real thought into it, but that felt like a bit of light at the end of the tunnel.

[@StarLad9]

So, I had the same thing. I figured "GA" sounded odd. And yet I'm still just a beginner. To those that are intimidated: it will make sense the more you practise. I do a daily diary and it's helped me understand when to use GA and WA. It's just something you eventually "hear" :) Don't fret!

[@046654]

this was very interesting with Shiori, thank you

[@greattfriend2376]

I'm at the part where you asked the question and I saw Shiori's response I personally was not confused at all. I understood wa and ga usage almost perfectly from the get go. I wouldn't be able to explain it coherently either, but I can kind of feel when wa does and doesn't need to be used. I think you SHOULD still explain it for people who go by rules, but your explanation of "it'll come natural" and that "japanese people don't know, so you don't need to know" is sufficient if your explanations aren't good enough for someone who doesn't automatically just "get" it. Hope my comment helps. I know I'm 2 years late

[@knsellout]

"is this book interesting?" would definitely be a topic marker example, "Kono hon (w)ha omoshiroi desu ka?" because "ga" would only make sense if you were talking to me about an interesting book you just finished, and I picked up what I thought was that particular book, and asked "Kono hon ga omoshiroi desu ka?" it's like saying "Is THIS the book that's interesting?"

[@lookwhaticando4244]

it's this video that helped me understand the difference between は and が and when to use them. YESS!!! 😆😆😆😆😆😆😆

[@lookwhaticando4244]

so to my understanding, は is used when you're talking about a specific object or thing and that you have no prior knowledge about any other types of that thing, for example you read your first ever book and you liked it you would use は, if you've read lots of books and you settled you eyes upon only one of them, you would use が. I think that how it works... is this right?... do you approve of this?

[@88KeysMan]

I still struggle with「は」and 「が」, but I think I'm getting better at it. This lesson helped clarify it even more. Like you said, George: it just starts sounding right to you.

[@Melbester9]

George said in his previous videos not to worry much about the differences between them. He mentioned the 5 differences between them in his Wa and GA video back in Course 1, if you want to check it out, it helped a lot. At first I was confused with both but after a while like he said, you get used to it. I'm the say way in this but with the Dono Word Groups but I'm glad this lesson continued from that and the Dono Group refresher in the beginning of the video helped me a lot.

[@Melbester9]

Japanese people mix up WA and GA a lot so that's why George said not to worry much but you'll get it eventually, trust me.

[@josephmealtfeld5032]

Roughly speaking 「は」is more often used than 「が」. but there are tow exception. one is when it is used with question word and its answer. This is a absolute rule.you cann't use 「は」in this case. at 8:05 in this video あかがいいです. this sentence uses 「が」because it's a answer of the question どのいろがいいですか the other is a case subject is not a person and a verb is a kind of action such as to run or to fly etc. とりがとんでいる(a bird is flying) sounds more natural than とりはとんでいる but his is not an absolute rule.you can say とりはとんでいる i some nuances

[@rajsekarbalaji]

When you were talking about why we used が there and not は. FOR some reason i don't know why, but the sentences came out of my mouth naturally. I didn't really think about it. SO I GUESS IM MAKING PROGRESS.........

[@nisoloods5018]

Not gonna lie, you give some real day[9] vibes. And he is great teacher of game logic/strats.

[@japanesefromzero]

He was WHY I started doing videos where I talk to the camera. I 100% copied him in the early days. There is probably some residual things I do because I was watching him so much.

[@Konuvis]

kono = article, kore = pronoun LOL at the everlasting struggle of ha / ga ! and you should definitely keep doing those mindbender because it helps us understand :)

[@עדיל]

I heard that one of the diffrences between か and は is that か put the empasis on the word before it and は on the word after it. So I think that "which color" and "red" are the what the question/answer is about = か ,and in the book sentence the "interesting" is what the question is about so =は. This tip does help me so maybe it will be useful for others. I like this channel and Misa's japanese ammo I think I got this tip from her.

[@Johnny-wx6ze]

Just came back on a 3.5 week road trip in Japan and I swear I saw katakana more often than I did hiragana though kanji is always prevalent. So I definitely agree that there is no getting around not learning katakana

[@ProgInternetExplorer]

also props to you for that hon wa sentence thing

[@martinnyolt173]

I am a novice Japanese learner. Concerning why it is が in "どのいるが　いいですか。" but は in "このほんは　おもしろいですか。", I have the following understanding. The consequence of this understanding is also directly the rule "never use は after a question word; always use が". The bottom line: the usage of は／が is independent of the sentence being opinion-based, and it all depends on the context (as usual). は marks the topic of the sentence. I understand the topic (that which is marked with は) always as "background information" or context. [1] That is why George occasionally translates "Xは Yです。" with "Speaking of X, it is Y." The topic ("X") is not the _new_ information that is conveyed with the sentence. "Y" is the new information. In the question "What colour is good?", there is not a _specific_ topic mentioned. By _specific_ topic, I mean a topic that is well-known to all participants of the conversation. Instead, this question is actually asking _for_ some colour. That what is asked for (the colour) _is_ the _new_ information, and no は can be used. Consequently, the answer is the _new_ information, and が must be used, too. Therefore, the answer to "が　◯◯か。" always has to be marked with が, too. As a counter example, assume this dialogue in English, where は would be used in Japanese: "Speaking of which colour, do you like it?" - "Speaking of red, I like it." It would just sound strange, as neither "which colour" nor "red" are known topics in these sentences. Similar, you can't use は here. In the question "Is this book interesting?" the topic is "this book". That what is asked for, the new information, is _whether it is interesting_. It is assumed that everyone (of that conversation) knows which _specific_ book is meant by "this". In particular, "this book" is not a question word-"this book" is a _specific_ topic. In contrast, "which colour" or "which book" is a question word [2], and not setting a specific topic. Questions are usually asked within a specific _context_ or situation, therefore there is usually already a topic for a question. This distinction also naturally leads to the difference between は and が of Video 37: "This cat is on the desk." versus "There is a cat on the desk." With "this cat", you are speaking of a specific cat that is known; thus, you translate it to "ねこは". In contrast, "a (some) cat" requires が in this case, as the cat that is on the desk has not been topic of the sentence before. If you say, out of the blue, "The cat is on the desk.", I would naturally ask "Which cat?", because I do not know of any cat. Saying "The cat" shows, to me, some lack of empathy, as you have not yet introduced the cat to me. Of course, if you want to say "_this_ cat", that's a different story, and "そのねこが" would be correct; but without その, it is just _some_ unspecified cat. So, it is really the same concept of the difference between a/the/that as in English, just different words and grammar. Whether は or が is used has nothing to do that a statement is purely subjective (or that a question is asking for a subjective statement). How one can express "Do you think that this book is interesting?" with stressing the personal opinion most naturally in Japanese is left as a question for more advanced speakers. :) Of course "あかが　いいです。" is personal and subjective. For the specific case of "◯が　いいです。", usually I suppose that the topic is _not_ わたし. Instead, it is some other context, maybe you are buying a new car and are asked for the new car's colour. Then, I think (please correct me if I am wrong), the topic would be "the new car I am about to buy", and the information is the colour that fits that car. What is more, even statements like "あのくるまは　あたらしいです。" are subjective in some sense, and to some degree, but still there is no "わたしは" and it would sound awkward. So I claim that the opinion-based part "I find that …" or "For me, …" ("… red is a good colour for this car") is _not_ the topic of the sentence. To sum up, it all depends on the context, knowing it is essential. P.S.: George, I really like your online courses and all your videos, and I really appreciate all your effort. Thank you very much! You make learning Japanese really easy, and I really like your style. You can explain thinks so that I understand it (almost always) immediately. [1] This also conforms to the standard distinction between _topic_ (or theme) and _focus_ (or comment, rheme) in linguistics: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topic_and_comment I am not a linguist, but as a computer scientist I also occasionally think about syntax and semantic. So, please bear with me that I use a theoretic-ish writing style. [2] Well, more a question phrase rather than a word, but anyway ….

[@SimplyObligation]

You had me at 4 seconds in. I'm hooked.

[@SimplyObligation]

I KNOW AT 18:14 you wanted me say say Nani wa! XDDD

[@SimplyObligation]

Last comment on this video I promise. Since you mentioned Hello Talk in one of your recent vids I've ben using it and I have had a lot of practice using Japanese. Thank you so much George you are the cats balls.

[@Yinyanchant]

Love this lesson, !! sometimes it is one way rather than another JUST BECAUSE IT IS!! I'm actually ok with that!

[@MelonTF2]

"Guys do wear earrings, sometimes girls do too..."

[@user-sm2cx5ql9c]

i always think of WA as an introductory marker, to talk about something new to the conversation, and it feels right for me. if it doens't feel introductory and defined, i just use GA.

[@quentinmcsloth240]

What makes me kind of happy right now is that I was literally thinking "I wanna say このほんは… but I feel like it should be が grammatically. But I don't wanna say it because it kind of feels weird to use が in this case."

[@KevinAbroad]

George should be a voice actor for kids shows. I lost it at 19:33

[@cb14011970]

"This pizza is delicious!" - that cracked me up!

[@briangild237]

I had trouble getting past that part because my hand slipped and hit the rewind button multiple times

[@meemay4314]

Im watching this lesson 11 in the midnight and I almost freak out because of "the sound" he makes at 18:46

[@aquilazyy1125]

It really freaked me out. I dropped my tablet on my face!!!

[@SaiyanJin85]

Sensei , I found all the correct answers , I’m so happy

[@sortofmasterpiece2594]

Omg I thought that sound was real. And just then the question pops in.

[@reeeeeplease1178]

In the very end, why is it kono pen GA yasui desu while the pizza sentence is kono piza WA oishii desu 😭😭😭 And we also used WA in the kono hon sentence

[@LessTalkMoreDelicious]

Wow..what a coincidence. I was actually thinking about pizza with sono/kono usage before 19:50.

[@sidisting1381]

oh dude, I love your lessons and the way your teaching even though you stopped for quite some time and you were wondering why is it "wa" instead of "ga" I really like your approach in which you seems more natural unlike studying at school with other students (and the teacher of course)

[@MyLittleMagneton]

After looking at a bunch of example sentences, it seems to me like: は = "the general sentiment for this is..." and が = "me personally consider this...". So: "I want those earrings" = が, whilst "those earrings are large" = は

[@justdance1315]

I'm not 100% sure why but using このほんは does make perfect sense to me over が. このほんは is talking about a specific book. このほんが sounds like you're saying both "This book" and "books in general" even though you really mean just a specific book.

[@languages170]

Thanks george!

[@ansong6271]

I saw another KZbinr explain the ha and ga particles pretty well. She said ha will put the emphasis on whatever is after the ha. Ga puts the emphasis on what comes before the ga

[@ansong6271]

Kinda explains why most adjectives use ga and why questions words use ga too

[@kradjl]

I think it's a "what color is good to you?" vs a "is this book good?" if you'd use ga you'd have to say "do you 'think' this book is good?" is not asking the person directly for their opinion, but focuses on the book. For example, "do you think Tanaka San is (an) interesting (guy)?" (Tanaka San ga omoshiroi desuka) vs "Tanaka San, is he (an) interesting(guy)?" (Tanaka San wa omoshiroi desuka)

[@kylemcmichael8670]

Speaking of sounding like a crazy person in public; In the pharmacy yesterday, when the lady asked for my birthday to verify my prescription without any hesitation I spoke it in Japanese and thought it in English. Never have I seen a face that confused before.😂😂

[@RonaldSL-]

I love katakana, it's handy. Both for reading and writing purposes.

[@Melbester9]

And for Japanese games too as some have katakana too.

[@EnraiChannel]

Only thing I dislike about katakana is how similar some characters are: シツンソノ. I still sometimes struggle with separating シ and ツ, because with some fonts the lines' degrees aren't that different from each other.

[@RonaldSL-]

I know it's "wrong", but personally, I make the one/two short lines' direction REALLY obvious. I write them either straight up, or directly to the left. It's ugly as sin, but much more convenient to read.

[@Melbester9]

+Enlike. I was the same way but the way to tell the differences is the stroke. Some characters begin or end with a hook. That's how you know the differences.

[@xxispade]

This probably has been answered or discussed already, but mostly due to being in my own head currently, I think I have an answer (I've been studying japanese for 3 weeks, so I have no real clue. ). I believe it's tangible things or objects that deserve a は without a prior subject (anata, watshi, kore, etc). Red, even though I think it's a noun here, isn't really a tangible thing but more of a descriptor. I actually don't think it has to do with assuming the は but more so that the は places a stage for you to set the object or subject on, however; if the object isn't tangible then it can not be placed on the stage. Sound is thecnically not tangible either, but I wonder if by using kono or ano to say "this sound" or "that sound" makes it tangible. For example (this is a bad sentence but) sono aca no wa ii desu ka. Would that allow the use of wa or is it even corrrect? Im not sure if that makes any sense. I've been looking for a way to deconfirm this. Also, I have the books. Thanks, Jo-ji sensei, for the amazing lessons.

[@ranidan]

The idea I had was this: So with tsuki, you are asking about the listener's opinion of something, but it won't change your own opinion. You want to know if he likes cats for example, but you already know if you like them. Thus the topic is all about him. With honwa omoshiroi desuka, yes, you are asking his opinion. But it is likely you are also asking if you would find it interesting. So the focus isn't on him, it's on whether the book itself would be interesting (to anyone). In George's later example of "this pizza is delicious" he also used wa. This is because while you are stating an opinion, you are also saying that anyone should find this pizza delicious, it's a property of the pizza itself.

[@bude8234]

I also do the "talking out loud thing", and people give me strange stares. Especially when I'm at the Gym (killing the proverbial two birds with one stone). Similar story - when I was in Tokyo, and in the restaurants, I would like to take the menu and practice reading the Katakana words for the various food and drink items. However, this would make the staff think I wanted to order something, and they would look my way to see if I needed something, and sometimes come over and ask if I wanted something else. So, I had to get in the habit of telling the waitress I was just reading and practicing.

[@zawette]

I don't want to be up to date )= i'll have to wait for new videos lol

[@thomasatwood4032]

こほんはおいしいですか。Makes sense to me because you are changing the topic from the speaker to the specific book.

[@bude8234]

22:10 - I also noticed that in Japan, about the "just say things in Katakana". Especially in restaurants, everything is "Americanized Katakana". For example, in Subway, you don't say shiro for the white bread option, but instead "ホワイト". Apple juice is not "リンゴジュース", but instead "アップルジュース". Drink becomes "ドリンク" in many restaurants. And so on ...

[@tbonemundy8505]

For wa and ga I try to see if there’s an assumed topic that could be used before the sentence and if there is I put wa in there and ga in the second place not sure if that’s right

[@citizenofcorona8783]

When you say “this pizza is delicious”, you sound like Pinocchio from Shrek

[@idontwantanamethx]

14:30 From the 2 given questions, my theory (it may be wrong) is that in the first question, you're not sure which color is good, and there are multiple responses to that, so 'ga' is used there. But in the second question, you want to know whether the book is interesting or not, so there are very limited responses, so 'wa' is used there. Please tell me any mistakes in my theory, for I'm also learning Japanese... :)

[@wiledwiredweasel560]

i guess i just don't know enough japanese yet to find the ha ga here confusing

[@yoimati]

Yes. If we say この本がおもしろいですか？, that sounds ''DO you really think this (specific) book is interesting for you? Seriously?'' In this case 「が」makes very heavy stress on this specific book, and the person's opinion about the book who you ask. この本は面白いですか？ is just a question.

[@ruineka_one]

A Japanese person I was talking to stated that if you know someone has an answer to something you would use GA. If you don't know whether or not the person knows something you would use HA. So...if you asked "What makes this book interesting" in Japanese you would use GA. (I think anyway).

[@gafer8808]

Thank you very much

[@LordotheMorning]

I think Wa and Ga in the book sentence is a question of objectivity versus subjectivity. "This book is interesting" is implied to be an objective statement, whether or not it is actually objective. It's the object (the book) that does the act of being interesting, not the person who is being interested. I think it's essentially a statement that the book should be interesting regardless of the subject (therefore the subject is deemphasized and I think it would be Ga even if it was included unless you wished to specifically emphasize the subjectivity of your statement). Opinions are phrased objectively all the time in English as well. t. Not a Japanese expert, looking at it from a grammatical standpoint.

[@milymaj]

For me the question “is this book interesting?” should be with は, because you are not asked specifically for your opinion, but I think that you are asked about general opinion of this book. So since you’re asking about a book the book is a topic.

[@milymaj]

And if someone would like to ask your opinion about this book - (s)he would ask another way. (あなたは) このほんが すきですか。 (I’m not 100% sure if you can use kono hon here, can someone tell me if this sentence and theory is correct way of thinking? ) :)

[@linkswords10]

He got me with the どの!!!!

[@aquilazyy1125]

7:09 These two sentences rhyme so damn well XDDDD

[@sergeyknol]

Thank you a lot!

[@courtlandgavan-glover2395]

You got me thinking about this and I tried to come up with an answer for why you'd use wa. When you use ga in that sentence it's like saying 'Is this the book that's good?' If you use wa it's neutral and so you'd want to use that.

[@ice9743]

Yeah that is a good explanation. I'm a bit surprised George couldn't come up with an explanation like this since he already pointed out before that ga is used for something in question that isn't known, while ha is like "the" where the subject is established. Since you're using kono in a statement the subject should be established and ga wouldn't work.

[@japanesefromzero]

Brain doesn't always work is probably the best answer for this. And also when you teach sometimes you overthink things. This is why we have SHIORI! She can bring back some normal thought process!

[@Kamenest21]

tip: when you're in public and practicing by speaking, try holding your phone as if you're talking to someone..