文法: Grammar a Day - Level 4 [ 〜は (ha) ]

〜は (ha) - 'topic marker' (also shown as 'wa')

--- Notes ---
Introducing は 'wa' and です。'desu.'
the particle は marks the topic.
(Remember particles attach to the word which they follow, and that when は
is a particle it is pronounced wa.)
です。functions like 'is' or 'topic is.'


--- Examples ---
田中さんは大学生です。
Mr. Tanaka is a university student.  

私はマイケルです。
I am Michael.  

林檎は緑です。
The apple is green.    

--- Comments ---
See here and here for two very interesting Japanese pages on using ha vs.
ga (contributor: Amatuka)

When to use は vs が?
Both sentences like 雨は降っている。[ame ha 
futteiru] and 雨が降っている。 are 
valid, so working out when to use which form is a 
tricky point.

First: In answering a question such as 
Q. 机の上に何がありますか。
A. 鉛筆があります。.
Here が is used. (contributor: Amatuka)

On the other hand if attention has been placed on something in advance and
the question is asked with that object as the topic...
Q. 本はどこにありますか。
A. 本はイスの下にあります。
then は is used. (contributor: Amatuka)

が is also used to indicate a specific choice.
私が行きます。
_I'll_ go. (not any of the other possibilities). (contributor: Amatuka)

は is used for contrastative sentences (see ha-2).
For example normally you'd say 
犬が好きです。 I like dogs.
However if you want to contrast how you feel about dogs with how you feel
about other animals then
犬は好きだが、猫はどうも・・・[inu ha suki da ga, neko ha
doumo ...]
I like _dogs_ but I really don't (get on with) cats. (contributor: Amatuka)

は [ha / wa] follows a noun or a noun phrase.
(e.g. 犬は  'as for dogs'
知るのは  'as for what (I) know'
The latter case の nominalizes (turns into a noun) 知る)

N = noun (contributor: Amatuka)

--- View this entry online ---
http://www.jgram.org/pages/viewOne.php?tagE=ha