Rocket Japanese Community

Hi,

There is a typo for the Audio Lesson 6.1 Page

[i wish it was so]

Psymon -san
Arigato Gozaimasu!

Apologies from the Rocket Japanese Team! We will make sure to get it right!

Thank you again,

There is also a typo (I guess) in 1.4 Survival Phrases.

Anata wa nihongo ga hanase masuka. should be

Anata wa nihongo o hanase masuka.

Konnichiwa!

The use of the particles GA and O are often interchangeable. In general, GA Marks the Subject and O marks the Direct Object.

In lesson 1.4 Survival Phrases:
Anata wa nihongo ga hanase masuka is correct in saying "Can you speak Japanese?" - when the subject of "Japanese" has not been mentioned previously in the context. - in the lesson, it is the first line of the dialogue, and thus, a newly introduced subject.

The subject is usually clear enough from the context that speakers don't always state it explicitly. But, when that's not the case - when the subject needs to be spelled out, it's marked by the particle GA.

You can say Nihongo wa hanase masuka as well, if you want to put a focus on nihongo (as in, comparing it to other languages).

You can see the difference of GA and WA if you were to roughly translate the two ways as:
Nihongo ga hanase masuka "Can you speak Japanese?"
Nihongo wa hanase masuka "As for Japanese, can you speak it?"

-Sayaka

I agree but in the spoken dialogue you use "o" and not "ga" and to a twelve year old this is confusing without any explanation at the point of use.

Konnichiwa,

Yes, sometimes the direct object of a "can/able to" form of a verb (hanaseru) is marked with 'o' - where Nihongo is the direct object of hanaseru (can speak). But more typically, potential verbs occur with a 'wa' and 'ga' pattern. The 'wa' tacks onto the subject - the person that is able to do the action - (Anata wa) and the 'ga' follows the direct object - (Nihongo ga).

I apologize if this has caused any confusion.

-Sayaka