# Adjectives and が



## Myuu

Hello,

I am confused about some adjectives when used with が.

Why is it that 怖い　means "scary" but 猫が怖い means "I'm scared of cats" and not "Cats are scary"?

うらやましい　means "jealous" but きみこがうらやましい means "I'm jealous of Kimiko" instead of "Kimiko is jealous." 

I'm sure there are more (anyone know of any?). Are these special kinds of adjectives, like 好き and 嫌い?

And I realize 心配 is a noun, but I'm confused about the same thing as with the adjectives. きみこが心配です means "I'm worried about Kimiko" and not "Kimiko is worried," which would be きみこが心配している. But it's still behaving like 好き does in that in English the word before が　would not be the subject of the sentence. Is there a reason why, and are there any more nouns that are like this?


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## wathavy

猫が怖い = (私は)猫が怖い
or
猫が怖い = (私は)猫を怖いと思う。

きみこがうらやましい = (私は) きみこがうらやましい.
or
きみこがうらやましい = (私は)きみこ*のこと*がうらやましい

きみこが心配です = (私は)きみこ*のこと*が心配です

Most cases you can replace が with は.
If you could recognize the sentence nuance with は　instead of が, you could happily live with it. Then what makes difference is は corresponds something with "A/a" and が equals "the" or something already mentioned.

Or "が" is just a stress that the specific thing is at the interests.
Rather "は"　is not at the center of interest. 

I may not have cleared out your question. Somebody else would, hopefully.
The が　is not that easy, unless you use it often.
Cheers.


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## Morrow

Myuu said:


> Are these special kinds of adjectives, like 好き and 嫌い?


Yes.

The best way to deal with it is through pattern recognition:
(a) XはYが怖い(X is scared of Y).
(b) XはYがうらやましい(X is jealous of Y).
where you can leave the "Xは" part out when it is understood in context.

And "心配だ/です," which comes from ナ形容詞 "心配な," is in the same category as "好きだ/です."

Morrow

If you put a focus on "New York" in (i), meaning that it is New York that is scary (to me), then the sentence means "ニューヨークが怖い." 
(i) New York is scary (to me).


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## Myuu

Oh wow, I didn't realize 心配 was also an adjective. 
Thanks wathavy and Morrow! Your responses are so quick and helpful!


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## Morrow

Myuu said:


> I didn't realize 心配 was also an adjective.



Actually, "心配" itself is a noun.  When you add "する" to it, you get a verb "心配する."  

(1) 親は子を心配する(ものだ).  (Parents worry about their children.)
where "ものだ" says that that is parents' general tendency, worrying about their children.

You can use "している" to refer to a mental state as in "心配している(be worried about)."

(2) 太郎は花子(のこと)を心配している.
   =太郎は花子(のこと)が心配だ.  (Taro(o) is worried about Hanako.)

"が" may be ambiguous in (3). cf. きみこ*が*心配している.
(3) 太郎*が*花子(のこと)を心配している.

One interpretation is something close to (4a): I'm just telling you what Taro(o) says about Hanako.  Here "が" functions as a subject marker.

(4) a. Taro(o) says that he is worried about Hanako.
     b. Taro(o) is the one who is worried about Hanako.

The other interpretation is about focusing.  (4b) helps you understand the intended meaning.

And finally, "が" can also attach itself to an object noun phrase when the verb expresses ablilities or desire: 
(5) a. (私の上司は)パソコン*が**できる/わかる*.
     b. (私は)今ビール*が*飲み*たい*.
c. (私は)この靴*が**ほしい*.

Morrow


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## Myuu

> 太郎*が*花子(のこと)を心配している.


If we mean to have this interpreted as (4b), could we also say it like this?:
花子（のこと）を心配しているのは太郎だ。

If we can, then is this version "stronger" in saying that Tarou is the one who is worried, or is it basically the same as if we marked him with が in the beginning?

Also, if 太郎はきみこが心配だ is "Tarou is worried about Kimiko," then what if we had:
太郎はきみこが心配している
Could this still be interpreted as "Tarou says he is worried about Kimiko" or does the sentence itself just not make much sense with が　in place of を?

And one more thing:


> (4) a. Taro(o) says that he is worried about Hanako.


You translated it as "Tarou says that he is" instead of "Tarou is." Is that because you yourself can't know for sure how Tarou is feeling, so in Japanese it is instinctively understood that he specifically _let you know_ how he was feeling somehow? Like how you can't say きみこは幸せだ, only きみこは幸せそうだ。 (I think?) In that case, shouldn't 太郎はきみこが心配だ instead be 太郎はきみこが心配そうだ。?

I always get a slew of little questions like these when I think too hard. I'm sorry. 
I hope these questions don't divert too much from the topic...
Thanks for your help.


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## wathavy

Myuu, never mind, I have ever heard that all Japanese learner do have difficulty using "が”and "は".
And you have scattered sentences of both already in hand which confuse you more.

I only know one explanation on these two words difference.
All the others are rather instinctively known by hearing it. It, I guess, does not have good grammatical explanation at the end.

One Japanese teacher said once to us in our class that there is one big volume of encyclopedia he saw at his University which explains and analyzes the use of "は" and "が". Of course I have never seen that book. But it seems you might need to have very thick book on these two pieces.


花子（のこと）を心配しているのは太郎だ。

太郎はきみこが心配だ 

太郎はきみこが心配している

All three are possible.

太郎はきみこが心配している
should be transformed into
きみこが太郎を心配している。
Which is the other way around of,
太郎はきみこが心配だ 

But unlike what you worry, 心配なようだ is not always the case.
You don't have to be that much of logic sensitive in Japanese.
I am not sure of modern Japanese which is very much affected by English philosophy, but the current Japanese to me sounds less logical than English. It has hazy lousy logic just like ever,(to me).

I could not follow very well of your discussion and please ignore me if it does not fit what you wanted.

But again, it is good idea to have doubts on these two words.
And pay attention on the use. There are variety of mysterious use and most of them are valid. And strangely some are logically possible and still invalid.
Mystery of this language. (or illogical only perhaps.)
.

Or just another barrier to protect Gaijin.... lol


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## Morrow

Myuu said:


> Could we also say it like this?:
> 花子(のこと)を心配しているのは太郎だ。


Yes.  That is what "focusing" means.



Myuu said:


> Is it basically the same as if we marked him with が in the beginning?


Yes, as far as we're concerned with "focusing," or foregrounded information.



Myuu said:


> What if we had:太郎はきみこが心配している


This may mean different things: As for Taro, Kimiko is the one who takes care of him.  The sentence will be easier to understand if you change "太郎は" to "太郎のことは."  Now "Taro" is a topicalized object NP and "Kimiko" is the subject NP that has the focus on it.  And "心配している" corresponds in meaning to "takes care of" instead of "is worried about." 



Myuu said:


> You translated it as "Tarou says that he is" instead of "Tarou is." Is that because you yourself can't know for sure how Tarou is feeling?


No.  
(7a) says that you're just describing how Taro is feeling, based on the information you've gathered.  The information may or may not include what you've heard directly from Taro.

(7) a. 太郎*は*花子(のこと)を心配している.=太郎は花子(のこと)が心配だ. [=(2)]
     b. 太郎*が*花子(のこと)を心配している. (in the sense of (4a))

(7b) indicates that you know the fact that Taro is worried about Hanako, probably because you've heard him say so directly.  "が" suggests that Taro is willing to help Hanako out or at least wish her well.  This implicature will be made clearer if the object is "you," as in (8).

(8) 太郎が君のことを心配しているよ.

Now you could depend on Taro to help you if you ask him.

Morrow


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## Myuu

Thank you very much, wathavy and Morrow! I think I got it now.



> One Japanese teacher said once to us in our class that there is one big volume of encyclopedia he saw at his University which explains and analyzes the use of "は" and "が".


Hah, that's amazing...I'd like to see that book! 
As of now, I'm just reading as much Japanese as possible to try and get an intuitive sense of how it's used. I've been studying for roughly five years, and I think I am able to "feel" the difference somewhat, but I know I still have a long way to go. Kind of depressing when it's been five whole years, but that will make fluency all the more rewarding. 

Thanks again for your help, guys!


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## wathavy

Myuu said:


> As of now, I'm just reading as much Japanese as possible to try and get an intuitive sense of how it's used.



That will do a good trick on learning Japanese, I promise.
Likewise with English for me.

I am currently learning British English which amuses me a lot.
Thanks to Harry Potter, I start to realize there are British English and American English. And I really hope that I could be good at pretending to be British someday. 

Have fun !


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