N5 Topics
L5: Yeah, But...
Learn how to say 'but', joining and contrasting sentences
Yeah, But...
In this Topic, we're going to learn two ways to say 'but' by using the conjunctive particles けど and が. With these words, we will be able to expand our range of expression and make more nuanced statements.
Grammar in this Topic
けど・だけど
But, However
けど is one of the common conjunction particles in Japanese. These are particles that function by connecting the (A) and (B) parts of a sentence. けど works very similarly to が, in that it highlights 'while thinking about (A), (B)'. This means that けど will often come across as 'but' in English.
As can be seen from these examples, just like many other grammatical constructions, だ will be required when using けど after a な-Adjective, or a noun.
けど is just a modern (casual) version of けれども. Please see below for a list of the most casual, to the most formal variations.
Casual - けど - けども - けれど - けれども - が - Formal.
Caution
The phrase after けど will often be omitted if it is obvious, or the speaker does not want to say it.
が
But, However
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.
Details
The difference between けど and が can appear small when looking at them in translation, however they are generally used in quite different situations. Let's take a closer look at some examples.
Did That Register With You?
How people speak in Japanese (and any language) can change quite a lot depending on the context. We can call the specific way someone is speaking based on context, politeness, and so on a 'speech register'.
To help understand this idea, we need to separate out the idea of 'polite speech' from 'formal speech'. Japanese marks politeness grammatically, using です and ます. Formality, on the other hand, is not marked grammatically. It is about word choice which sounds more lofty and is used in rigid situations (such as news, interviews, academic papers, and so on).
As such, Japanese can be a combination of polite or not polite (standard), and formal or informal (can sometimes be considered 'casual' or 'conversational'). Of course, there are gray areas and levels of nuance beyond this. However, this holds true on the whole.
We can take the grammar points we have just learned to help illustrate these differences. けど tends to be used in less formal language, while が tends to be used in more formal language.
The 'standard and formal' combination is most often seen in written language, and tends to use advanced vocabulary and grammar, so we won't see much of it until we're at higher levels. However, the other three combinations make up the majority of spoken language.
The Quiet Life
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なつこ：「北海道は楽しい？」
たろう：「うん。楽しいよ。この家も古いけどきれいだろう？」
なつこ：「そうだね！台所も新しいね！いいね！」
たろう：「そう！駅が遠いから不便だけど、近所にスーパーもコンビニもあるから便利だよ。」
なつこ：「いいね！昨日喫茶店に行ったよね。そこも近いよね！店の人も優しかった。」
たろう：「でしょう？年寄りが多い町だけどみんな優しいんだ。」
なつこ：「田舎もいいね！」
たろう：「そう。大阪も楽しかったけど、僕は北海道の田舎が好き。」
なつこ：「太郎、Tシャツだけど寒くないの？」
たろう：「まあ、大丈夫だよ！」
なつこ：「私は寒いよ・・・。寒いのが嫌いだから私は大阪がいいな・・・。」