Rules of the game
RED means move word
BLUE means don’t-move word
Every word links to a jisho.org page. Just click the word!
Today, I wanted to introduce you new grammatical particles. Following the logic of this course, I have to tell you about the は and the も particles, frequently referred as “topic markers” in your second favorite japanese course (because your favorite is obviously this one). But… There’s a tiny, tiny issue…
Japanese anarchy : when particles refuse to follow grammar
You read it right. は and も are not grammatical particles. They are not grammatical since they are used when they make sense, but when they make sense can be a whole lot of places, and any sentence where you add and remove some of them is still right grammatically speaking.
And then on top of it, は, when used as a particle, is pronounced wa and NOT ha, just like a わ. That’s the middle finger from the other hand. Be careful, this is ONLY true when は is used as a particle.
So what’s this nonsense about は and も not being grammatical particles? Grammar is a word referring to the rules to build sentences. But は and も are “Topic markers”. Whereas が and を (pronounce o) are “Subject and Object markers” in a SENTENCE, は and も are “Topic markers” in a DISCUSSION. They tell the listener where we are in the discussion.
If you only had one thing to remember from this lesson, it would be this last sentence ” は and も tell the listener where we are in the discussion.” You remember the last lesson? I told you that japanese omits a lot of elements in their sentences. These も and は are the opportunity for the japanese people to omit even more words. With this overpowered tool, you can possibly omit が particles, を particles and even other words. Since they inform about the topic of the discussion, this is only ONE OF their many uses.
A quick explanation of their distinctive superpowers.
Context is a circle :
The は particle picks a specific, smaller zone in the current context. Just like drawing a card from your Yu-Gi-Oh deck.
The も particle adds even more context. Like adding a card to your hand in Yu-Gi-Oh. (By the way, did you know Yu-Gi-Oh actually means something in japanese? 遊戯王 litterally means “The king of the game”. The weird writing in roman alphabet is only there to add a classy tone to it)
I’m sure you remember when I said last lesson that “When both が and を are visible in a sentence, that means both of them are important informations”. But… what is an important information? Let’s take an english sentence :
“Tomorrow, it will rain.”
You notice the most important information is “rain”. Tomorrow is only there to add context, to make sure the most important information is understood. This is EXACTLY what は and も allow you to do. And you would use them to express it in japanese : 明日は雨が降っ(ていく) “It will rain tomorrow”. And you would say 明日も雨が降っ(ていく) to mean “It will rain ALSO tomorrow”, probably implying it has been raining another day as well.
Since は and も are not grammatical, they belong to a very rare exception : they are neither a move word or a don’t-move word. In other words, you can place them after anything as long as it makes sense. Realistically, while it’s technically possible to find them after move words, it remains quite rare, since it’s difficult to give context with verbs and adjectives, even in english.
So how do you use them?
“I’m going (to school) first, but please also come right after!” In this sentence, you have everything that is summed up. 私は, “I”, is not the important information, it’s only there to remove ambiguity. “By the way, I do the action”. ガヴも (Gabu = Gabriel) neither, and も indicates “You ALSO”, only giving context once again.
We don’t see any を particles here… because we simply don’t care! Why would it be an useful information here to know if you go through an alley or through the main street or by the skyway? (For those who know a bit of japanese, it’s really possible to say 道を行く to mean “go through the road”, just uncommon in modern japanese). Surely not a great information here, and surely not often at all. If you were to add the が that have been ommitted, you would have :
Of course, these 2 が are unnecessary because you get them from the context. But you can also do this for the を particle!
“(That’s no good), you have to take care of the bodies of girls.” The は here also expresses context. The most important information he wants to express is “大事にする“, “take care of it”. But, this time, は “hides” an を particle, not a が :
So, how was it? Remind yourself that if you understood everything so far, you exceed the level of the majority of japanese learners in grammar. Yes, I’m not lying. On the later courses, we’ll focus ourselves on move words principally. You are in fact very close to understanding everything you need when it comes to don’t-move words. If you’re still on fire and ready to go, on the next lesson about types of movements!