"There is a lot of water."
Translation:水がたくさんあります。
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How is the たくさん placed I. E. Before subject or after subject? Does the meaning change for たくさん水はあります?
たくさん is used before the verb (あります). The literal translation of 水がたくさんあります would be "as for water, a lot exists." or "water, there is a lot".
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If I am not mistaken, the use of the particle が is always required by the verbs あります and います.
While in general, those two verbs are used together with が, は can be used instead of/together with any particle. Of course, the meaning would be a bit different depending on which particle you use.
- 835
Max157209 is right. You are getting "wa" and "ga" mixed up.
"mizu wa" = "water" + topic-marking particle = "As for water, ..."
In a sentence that starts with "mizu wa", you are starting the sentence by simply asserting that "mizu" ("water") will be the topic of the sentence. The rest of the sentence will then make some statement, or ask a question, which you are to interpret with that topic in mind.
"mizu ga" = "water" + subject-marking particle = "Water..."
In a sentence that starts with "mizu ga", you are not setting a topic at all, but simply making a statement, or asking a question, about water, directly.
If you want to use it as if it were an adjective, you have to add a の.
たくさんの水
とても is usually used together with an adjective or an adverb (unless it's used in a very specific negated verbal sentence) but isn't used to specify the amount of a noun.
I still don't get the idea behind choosing between "ga" and "ha" for subjects?
What am I missing?
(Please write "danmoller" somewhere in your answer so I can see it later :) )
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Basically "wa" is used when the people in the conversation know and expect what the subject is. "Ga" is used when they don't know what the subject is going to be.
For example:
Who are you? (Anata wa dare desu ka?) Watashi wa Lloyd desu. The person asking the question already knows that the subject is the person they're talking to, so "Lloyd" answers with "wa'.
Who is Lloyd? (Lloyd wa dare desu ka?) Watashi ga Lloyd desu. The person asking the question doesn't know "who" the answer is going to be, so they answer with "ga". The person asking the question knows what the subject is (Lloyd) so they use "wa".
If you were to translate these answers, the first one would be "I am Lloyd" and the second would (very roughly) translate to "The person named Lloyd is I".
In this case, "Mizu ga takusan ari masu". The sentence doesn't know that the subject (user) knows what the subject is, so they use "ga". "Ga" is usually used when defining the subject of the sentence/situation. It's mainly built on context.
Wa -Marks the topic of a sentence. -Contrasts one option or thing against others. -Used when elaborating on things already known to the listener.
Ga -Marks the subject of a verb. -Separates/calls out one option or thing from others. -Used when adding new things/information to a conversation. -Used when describing specific things with adjectives. -Marks objects of potential-form verbs. (can/able to) -Connects clauses with a meaning of "but" or "despite".
Since Japanese is such a different language compared to English, there are many structural and grammatical differences. I know these because I know how to pronounce/speak Japanese and the sentence structures, but I'm relearning how to read it. It would be nice for a lot of people to somehow learn the syntax of Japanese and how different sentences are structured.
For example, the differences between "wa" and "ga", many different ways to read a specific kanji based on the context, and others. For example, there are many different ways to say "I" in Japanese, but most textbooks teach by saying "watashi". That's not necessarily wrong, but there are many other ways of saying "I" based on the context. Guys can say "Ore" or "Boku", while girls (and some guys) say "watashi". There are also different levels of politeness in these different ways of saying "I". You wouldn't say "Ore" when talking to your boss or someone higher up than you.
Hopefully that helped a little bit, Danmoller.
To clear that up a bit more, の doesn't mean "of" or necessarily indicate strict possession in the English language sense. It indicates that what comes before の modifies what follows.
You are right. Sometimes の "transforms" a noun in a adjective for what comes next. Why people are downvoting you？
I've learned to say "there are many people" like たくさんの人がいます. So don't you have to use の to link たくさん and a substantiv?
If たくさん is before the noun it requires の but not if it's before a verb. The sentence order highlights which words are the most important.
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It's exactly analogous to a numeral expression; you can say 三人の人がいます and 人が三人います indifferently. By the same token, you can say たくさんの人がいます and 人がたくさんいます indifferently, as well.
No sorry, like in English the description comes before the noun when used directly together
Another example used by duolingo was 小さいベッドです Meaning it is a small bed
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It seems it does now accept that, but doesn't with the plain form ある. Very inconsistent.
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水が大量にある not accepted (actually I can't find any answers it accepts other than the given one, or with plain-form ある, despite there being many ways this could be expressed in Japanese)
いっぱい means "full," this sentence does not have any reference to a container of any kind, so there is nothing there to be full.
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5th definition on jisho.org is "a lot; many" and I've seen/ heard it used that way. Having said that I'm not sure it would sound right in every circumstance you might say "there's a lot of water", especially if it's not all in one place.
Oh yeah, that's a good point, I didn't see that. I don't know if it's more awkward sounding or not. It is very likely though that Duolingo also just doesn't recognize it at this level in the course because it hasn't been taught yet, so it's not expecting that as an answer.
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I wrote 水がたくさん有ります and it was not accepted. Should i report it, or did I do something wrong I'm failing to see?
Probably because you have put 有ります rather than あります。Duo has not taught us this kanji in the lessons up to this point. Also on Jisho for 有る it actually says that it is usually written in kana alone and not with the kanji, so it is probably unnatural to write it the way you have. https://jisho.org/search/%E6%9C%89%E3%82%8A%E3%81%BE%E3%81%99