Grammar Info

N5 Lesson 5: 6/12

But, However

が can sometimes mean something closer to 'and', or a comma that connects clauses

Structure

Verb +
[い]Adjective +
[な]Adjective + +
Noun + +

Details

  • Part of Speech

    Particle

  • Word Type

    Conjunctive Particle

  • Register

    Standard

About が

As a particle, 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, comes across as 'but', or 'however' in English.

This nuance of is used directly after any form of verb or い-Adjective, but requires one of the conjugations of or です before it when used with a noun or な-Adjective.

From these examples, we can see that is simply highlighting that 'while (A) is important, there is extra information'. 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 . In these cases it just means that more information exists, but it is obvious, so it does not need to be said.

  • まあ、綺麗(きれい)です
    Well, it is pretty, but… (I still don't like it)

Examples

--:--

    (はや)いです()きます

    It is early, but I will wake up.

    (むずか)です頑張(がんば)ります

    It is difficult, but I will do my best.

    (さむ)です(そと)()きます

    It's cold, but I will go outside.

    ロイさん携帯(けいたい)(ふる)です(はや)です

    Roy's cellphone is old, but it is fast.

    綺麗(きれい)です(あぶ)です

    It is beautiful but dangerous.

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が – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (10 in total)

  • cjulian

    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?

    日本語にほんご面白おもしろむずかしいです。

  • nekoyama

    nekoyama

    I think it’s even better that way. Politeness should be the same on both sides of が.

  • cjulian

    cjulian

    Thank you for that! That makes plenty of sense to me.

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