Structure
Verb + が
[い]Adjective + が
[な]Adjective + だ + が
Noun + だ + が
Details
- Particle 
- Conjunctive Particle 
- Standard 
About が
As a particle, が has several different uses in Japanese. However, each of these different uses share a common theme. That theme expresses 'highlighting (A) as important, (B)'. In this use, が comes across as 'but', or 'however' in English.
This nuance of が is used directly after any form of verb or い-Adjective, but requires one of the conjugations of だ or です before it when used with a noun or な-Adjective.
From these examples, we can see that が is simply highlighting that 'while (A) is important, there is extra information'. が with the meaning of 'but' is considered to be very formal, this is due to it sounding quite direct in asserting that there is extra information.
Caution
Sometimes a statement will end with が. In these cases it just means that more information exists, but it is obvious, so it does not need to be said.
Synonyms
Related
Examples
--:--
- 早いですが、起きます。 - It is early, but I will wake up. 
- 難しいですが、頑張ります。 - It is difficult, but I will do my best. 
- 寒いですが、外へ行きます。 - It's cold, but I will go outside. 
- ロイさんの携帯は古いですが、速いです。 - Roy's cellphone is old, but it is fast. 
- 綺麗ですが、危ないです。 - It is beautiful but dangerous. 
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- Online
- Offline- [DBJG] A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar- Page 120 
- Tae Kim's Japanese Grammar Guide- Page 110 
- みんなの日本語 I- Page 56 [CH 8] 
- みんなの日本語 II- Page 126 [CH 45] 
 
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が – Grammar Discussion
Most Recent Replies (10 in total)
 - cjulian - Regarding the following example sentence, for some reason, my brain wants to say 面白いですが instead of 面白いが. Is this just a bad habit I’ve developed or would it be fine to do so here? - 日本語は面白いが 、難しいです。 
 - nekoyama - I think it’s even better that way. Politeness should be the same on both sides of が. 
 - cjulian - Thank you for that! That makes plenty of sense to me. 
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