Subject Particles
and 
Japanese uses two different particles to mark the subject of
the sentence. Use 
when you are introducing the subject for the
first time, or wish to emphasize the subject. On the
previous page, we used because we were introducing
Nakamura-san for the first time. This sentence would answer the
question “Who sees Shimada-san?”
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    |
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| Nakamura-san (subject) |
Shimada-san (object) |
sees (verb) |
If we already knew about Nakamura-san and wanted to emphasize
that it’s Shimada-san that he sees, then Nakamura-san would be
a topic, but not the main subject, so you would use 
. This
sentence would answer the question “Whom does Nakamura-san see?”
|
|
|
| Nakamura-san as-for (topic) |
Shimada-san (object) |
sees (verb) |
When used as a particle, is always pronounced wa
rather than ha and is loosely translated to mean “as for.”
The distinction between and is not always so clear-cut,
and it can sometimes be difficult to figure out which one is correct
to use.
See a
detailed discussion of the use of these two particles.
The other common particles are much more straightforward, so let’s look at them.