How to use "は"(wa) and "が"(ga)

This article is about how to use "は"(wa) and ”が"(ga).
( Usually, the pronunciation of "は" is "ha",
   but on following cases, "wa" is the right pronunciation)

Imagine that there are several words, categorized into two types, words for a subject and words for a complement.



A subject word and a complement word can be combined with a “be” verb.
Such as:
   Tanaka is a fireman.　田中さんは消防士です。
   Sato is a teacher.　佐藤さんは教師です。
   Suzuki is a farmer.   鈴木さんは農家です。

“です” means “is”. 　The examples above are simple Japanese sentences easily understandable.

However, we can say same relation as figure1 another way such as:
　　田中さんが消防士です。
　　佐藤さんが教師です。
　　鈴木さんが農家です。

The difference between two patterns are “は” and “が” (postpositional particles in Japanese grammar).
Many Japanese learners have difficulty in understanding how to use “は” and “が”.
If you feel so, please read the following explanation.

Suppose that there are two people A and B. They are talking about Tanaka.
A: 田中さんの仕事は何ですか？ What is Tanaka’s job?
B: 田中さんは消防士です。 He is a fireman.
This case, A know Tanaka, but don’t know his job. So their matter of concern is his job.
“は” indicates that their matter of concern is the complement part.



On the other hand, “が” is used in a slightly different situation.
A: 誰が消防士ですか？ Who is a fireman?
B: 田中さんが消防士です。 Tanaka is.
This case, A know there is a fireman, but don’t know who is. So their matter of concern is “who”.
“が” indicates that their matter of concern is the “Subject” part.