Page 94 - Easy Japanese - Learn to Speak Japanese Quickly! (TUTTLE)

kissaten 喫茶店 coffee shop
shokudō 食堂 dining hall; diner (small,
casual)

famirī resutoran ファミリーレストラン family restaurant
sushi-ya 寿司屋 sushi shop

rāmen-ya ラーメン屋 ramen shop
soba-ya そば屋 soba-noodle shop

GRAMMAR NOTE Subject of a Sentence and the Particle ga

The subject of a sentence, when stated, is usually placed before the object and is
marked by particles wa, mo, ga or no particle at all.

Rāmen kimashita. (The) ramen has come.
Rāmen wa kimashita. At least the ramen has come.

Rāmen mo kimashita. (The) ramen has come, too.
Rāmen ga kimashita. Here is the ramen (new information)
or It’s the ramen that has come.

There are certain parallels between particles o (object) and ga (subject). They

both place a special focus on the noun or the entire sentence, and are usually
used with question words.
Nani ga i’i desu ka. What is good?

-Rāmen ga i’i desu. Ramen is good.
Satō-san ga kimasu ka. Is it Ms. Sato who is coming?

-Ie, Tanaka-san ga kimasu. Satō-san wa kimasen yo.
No, it’s Mr. Tanaka who is coming. Ms. Sato is not coming.

Note that in the answer above Satō-san is followed by the particle wa, while
Tanaka-san is followed by the particle ga. This is because Tanaka-san is the the
correct answer to the question and thus is the focus. Satō-san has been already
mentioned and the particle wa here indicates that she is being compared to

Tanaka-san.
When the entire sentence presents new information the subject takes particle
ga and the object takes o. In the dialogue above, Ms. Sato announces the arrival
of ramen using particle ga for the subject, ramen. The whole sentence Rāmen ga
kimashita is presented as new information, rather than just Rāmen.