LESSON 25
A Sentence Opener (wa)

Phrases
Is there any bread?	Pan ga arimas' ka?
There isn't any bread.	Pan wa—arimasen.
What isn't there any of?	Nani ga arimasen ka?
It's bread there isn't any of.	Pan ga arimasen.
Who has some bread? (or Whose bread is there?)	Dare no pan ga arimas' ka?
Who has the bread? (or Whose is the bread?)	Pan wa—dare no des' ka?
How about fish—is there any?	Sakana wa—arimas' ka?
There isn't any fish, but there is some meat.	Sakana wa arimasen ga, niku wa arimas'.
Today the weather's nice.	Kyō wa o-tenki ga ii des' ne.
What is this?	Kore wa nan des' ka?

Practice
A: Chotto! Onegai sh'-mas! One-san! Chotto!	Waitress: Hai, hai. Sugu ikimas'. Nani o tabe mas' ka?
A: Sō des' ne. Nani ga arimas' ka?	W: Sakana ga arimas'. Yasai mo arimas'.
A: Niku wa arimasen ka?	W: Arimas'. Niku wa ari mas'. Sutēki ga ("beefsteak") arimas' ne.
A: Sō des' ka. Ēto, sutēki ne—Sutēki o motte kite kudasai. Sore kara yasai sarada ("salad") mo motte kite ne.	W: Hai, hai. Sugu motte kimas'. Okii sutēki des' ka, chiisai sutēki des' ka? Ōkii sutēki wa sen go-hyaku en des' ne. Chiisai sutēki wa sen en des'.
A: Ōkii sutēki ga ii deshō ne. Ōkii sutēki o motte kite kudasai. Sore kara ne.	W: Hai.
A: Yasai Sarada wa— tak'san motte kite ne.	W: Hai, hai. Nani o nomimas' ka?
A: Miruku wa arimas' ka?	W: Arimasen, miruku wa. Biiru ga arimas'. Kōhii mo arimas'. Miruku wa arimasen ne. Sumimasen.
A: Kamaimasen. ("It makes no difference.") Biiru wa, Amerika no des' ka, Nihon no des' ka?	W: Nihon no des'.
A: Biiru ippon motte kite kudasai ne. Biiru o ippon ne. Biiru o nomimas'.	W: Biiru des' ka? Biiru o nomimas' ka? Biiru wa ima nomimas' ka, gohan no ato de nomimas' ka?
A: Ima nomimas' ne.	W: Hai, hai. Sugu motte kimas', biiru wa. Ato de, sutēki o motte kimas' ne. Chotto matte kudasai.

Tips

The particle wa is a kind of sentence opener—it tells you what you are going to talk about. In earlier lessons, you often started a sentence with a noun and then a pause: Kore—nan des’ ka? “What is this?” The pause more or less corresponds to the meaning of wa “as for”: Kore wa nan des’ ka? “As for this—what is it?” When you are making up a sentence, you can pick out any part and put it at the beginning (except the verb—that is always at the end). The part at the beginning has less emphais than the parts which come later; to reduce the emphasis still further, you can add wa. These differences of emphasis are rather subtle, and they seldom show up clearly in the English translations. Sometimes the English sentences suggest the opposite: When we contrast two things in English we stress the two things themselves, not what is different about them: “TANAKA is a Japanese, but BROWN is an American.” The Japanese reduces the emphasis on the two things in contrast so as to play up their points of difference; he does this with the particle wa: Tanaka san wa Nihon-jin des’ ga, Brown san wa Amerika-jin des’ ne. Like the particle mo, wa can follow other particles (Tōkyō made wa densha desh’ta ga, soko kara wa kuruma desh’ta. “As far as Tokyo it was by train, but from there on it was by car.”), but instead of following the subject or object particles, wa REPLACES the ga or o. So you can take a sentence like Tanaka san ga Nakamura san o mimash’ta and change it to Tanaka san wa Nakamura san o mimash’ta. “Tanaka —he looked at Nakamura” or to Nakamura san o Tanaka san ga mimash’ta. “Nakamura—Tanaka looked at him.” (“TANAKA looked at Nakamura.”). Notice whether it is the subject or the object, or whatever, the part with wa comes at (or very near) the beginning of the sentence, unless it is added as an afterthought after the verb. Since wa is a device to shift emphasis somewhere away from the word in front of it (playing up the rest of the sentence), you hardly ever find it after question words like dare “who,” nani “what,” doko “where,” etc. When you ask Dare kimash’ta ka? “Who came?” the thing you are mainly interested in is “Who?” so the appropriate particle is ga: Dare ga kimash’ta ka? The answer will also have ga (Tanaka san ga kimash’ta.), because you want to emphasize the new information you are supplying. With negatives, the particle wa is often appropriate, since you want to play up the “NOT” idea: Watashi wa tabemasen. “I—won’t eat.” Sore wa kaimasen. “That— I won’t buy it.” Frequently, when there is no other topic around to use as your sentence opener, you take the time or place: Kyō wa doko e ikimas’ ka? “Where are you going today?” Koko ni wa toire ga arimas’ ka? “Is there a toilet here?”

A: Hey! Excuse me! Waitress! Hey!	Waitress: Yes, sir. I'm coming right away. What will you have to eat?
A: Let's see. What have you got?	W: We've got fish. We've got vegetables too.
A: You don't have meat?	W: We do have. We've got meat. We've got beefsteak.
A: You have? Well, then, bring me a steak. And then bring me some vegetables (salad) too.	W: Yes, sir. I'll bring them right away. Do you want the large beef-steak, or the small? The large one is 1500 Yen, the small one is 1000.
A: The large one would be good (or better), wouldn't it. Bring me a large one. And then, too...	W: Yes.
A: Bring lots of vegetables (salad).	W: Yes, sir. What will you have to drink?
A: Have you got milk?	W: We don't have, milk. We've got beer. We've got coffee too. We haven't got any milk. I'm sorry.
A: That's all right. Is your beer American or Japanese?	W: It's Japanese.
A: Bring me a bottle of beer. One bottle of beer, see. I'll drink beer.	W: Beer? You'll take beer? Will you have your beer now, or will you have it after the meal?
A: I'll take it now.	W: Yes, sir. I'll bring it right away, the beer. Right after, I'll bring the steak. Wait just a moment please.