Page 36 - Easy Japanese - Learn to Speak Japanese Quickly! (TUTTLE)

GRAMMAR NOTE The Phrase Particle Wa
As mentioned in Japanese Sentence Types and Predicates on page 22, the subject
and other elements of the sentence, all of which are optional, come before the

predicate. So, all of the following sentences can be used to mean “I’m bad at
English”. The difference is what is already understood from the context and
therefore left unsaid.

Heta desu. (I’m) bad at (it)
Eigo, heta desu. (I’m) bad at English.
Watashi, heta desu. I’m bad at (it).

Watashi, Eigo, heta I’m bad at English.
desu.

Particle wa follows nouns and implies a contrast between that noun and others in

the same category. Thus, it may carry the meaning of “at least”. Wa can be
attached to the subject noun or other elements (the object noun, time
expressions, etc.)
Watashi wa heta desu. (As for me) I’m bad at (it.)

(Someone else may be good.)
Eigo wa heta desu. (I’m) bad (at least in) English.

(I may be good at other things.)
When particle wa attaches to a noun with a question intonation, it means “how
about X?” So, Tanaka-san wa? means “how about Mr. Tanaka?” in the dialogue.

Refrain from using “yes” or “no” to answer, since it’s not a yes-no question.
A sentence such as Tanaka-san wa Nihon-jin desu is usually translated as
“Tanaka is Japanese”. However, unlike the English translation, where X equals Y
(Y is the identity of X—in this case that Tanaka-san is Japanese), the
interpretation of the Japanese sentence is more open and flexible. Consider
Honda-san wa Amerika desu. This sentence does not mean “Ms. Honda is the

U.S.”, but rather that what is under discussion for Ms. Honda is the U.S. So,
there are numerous possible interpretations depending on the context. For
example, she is in America; she is in charge of the business operations with the
U.S.; her trip is to the U.S.; her favorite country is the U.S., etc. So, be aware of
the context and be imaginative. Now, what can Sato-san wa Eigo desu possibly
mean?