# Dare no inu desu ka?



## EugP

Moderator note:
Thread branched from here.

I am a little confused in terms of the use of "wa". From what I understand, "wa" is a particle marking the subject of the sentence. I really have 2 questions:

2. When exactly is "wa" used?
I was looking through a few examples, and noticed that "wa" isn't used in all case.
For example:

Dare no inu desu ka? - Whose dog is it?
Dare no enpitsu desu ka? - Whose pencil is it?
Watashi no inu desu - It's my dog

I'm having a hard time understanding why it is not:

Dare no Inu wa desu ka?
Dare no enpitsu wa desu ka?
Watashi no inu wa desu

Is it because they are a question of "belonging"?

I feel like I am missing/ overlooking something. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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## kaito

EugP said:


> From what I understand, "wa" is a particle marking the subject of the sentence.
> I feel like I am missing/ overlooking something.


You're overlooking ga.
Wa is used to mark the topic of a sentence, ga marks the grammatical subject.
[something] wa can be usually "translated" as "as for...[something]"

Also those examples don't mention the topic because it's probably obvious which item they're talking about.


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## AnubisMarco

I'll try to explain it (I'm not that good at english, but,,, I'll try)

"Wa" it's a connector that indicates a subjetc... mhhh..

Example:

Kore wa enpitsu desu. (This is a pencil).

and the "no" is another connector, similar or equivalent to "of".

Example:
私の犬です
"Watashi no Inu desu". Would be "It's my dog"

You can express it this way if you want to use the "wa" (If i'm wrong, correct me, please):

この犬は私のです
Kono inu _wa_ watashi no desu. would be "This is my dog".

You shouldn't use " Watashi no inu wa desu", because "wa" and "desu", have the same meaning in that case...and it's "is".

mhh.. I hope it was helpful ^^


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## EugP

Thank you both very much, this helped a lot!


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## notnotchris

More accurately, wa is a "topic marker". Many Asian languages (Japanese included) have a grammatical structure that English doesn't. It's called topic - comment.

The topic comes before the *wa* and the comment about the topic comes after the *wa*. So, *wa*  is sometimes translated as "as for". Perhaps an example will make it more clear:

_Kore_ wa dare no inu desu ka?
(As for _this_, who's dog [is it]?)

_Tomu-san_ wa kao ga akai desu.
(As for _Tom_, face is red) = Tom's face is red

_Watashi _wa ringo ga suki desu
(As for _me_, like apples) = I like apples

Since the topic is often omitted in Japanese, many times you won't see a *wa* in a sentence. 

This distinction (between topic and subject) can be ignored most of the time, but in a few examples (i.e. Tom is tall) you will see that there is no equivalent grammar in English.


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## EugP

notnotchris said:


> More accurately, wa is a "topic marker". Many Asian languages (Japanese included) have a grammatical structure that English doesn't. It's called topic - comment.
> 
> The topic comes before the *wa* and the comment about the topic comes after the *wa*. So, *wa*  is sometimes translated as "as for". Perhaps an example will make it more clear:
> 
> _Kore_ wa dare no inu desu ka?
> (As for _this_, who's dog [is it]?)
> 
> _Tomu-san_ wa kao ga akai desu.
> (As for _Tom_, face is red) = Tom's face is red
> 
> _Watashi _wa ringo ga suki desu
> (As for _me_, like apples) = I like apples
> 
> Since the topic is often omitted in Japanese, many times you won't see a *wa* in a sentence.
> 
> This distinction (between topic and subject) can be ignored most of the time, but in a few examples (i.e. Tom is tall) you will see that there is no equivalent grammar in English.



Thank you for the explanation. I wasn't sure how to use "wa" either, in terms of where it is in the sentence, but I think I got it now.


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## ikuko

"Wa" is the topic marker, "ga" marks the subject of the sentence.So "Wa" coud be the subject of the sentence but nor always.


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## EugP

ikuko said:


> "Wa" is the topic marker, "ga" marks the subject of the sentence.So "Wa" coud be the subject of the sentence but nor always.



I just read a little bit about "wa" and "ga", and I think I understand. Here's what I think the difference is (please let me know if I'm wrong):

"wa" indicates the overall topic, "ga" indicates the specific subject within the overall topic.


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## Flaminius

Yes.

But in order to approach your question:


> I'm having a hard time understanding why it is not:
> 
> Dare no Inu wa desu ka?
> Dare no enpitsu wa desu ka?
> Watashi no inu wa desu


distinctions between _-wa_ and _-ga_ seem unnecessary.

The correct question construction is:
[Kore-wa] *dare*-no inu desu-ka?

You can possibly answer the question by saying that it is your dog:
[Kore-wa] *watashi*-no inu desu.

Compare the two sentences.  The only difference is the question marker _-ka_ at the end of the wh-question.  Japanese wh-questions (questions asking why, who, what, which etc. as opposed to yes or no) are made by attaching -ka at the end and placing a wh-expression at the place where you expect an answer noun.  "Answer noun" is not a great terminology but I mean the emboldened part in the sentences.


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## ikuko

Flaminius,you're summary about "wa"and "ga" is all right. Sou desu ne.


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