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- "Do you like cameras?"
"Do you like cameras?"
Translation:カメラは好きですか？
21 Comments
I think the difference is between the topic and subject. Cameras as a topic would mean "do you like cameras in general" or "as for cameras, do you like them" whereas as a subject you might mean "do you like the camera" or "how do you like this camera". Topics would be for general references and subjects would be more for specific objects. A good one on another lesson was vegetables. Yasai wa sukinai would mean I do not like vegetables whereas yasai ga sukinai would mean i dont like these vegetables (maybe in front of you). One implies that you think vegetables suck and the other implies that maybe these vegetables may have been prepared badly or werent the type you like
i think the first part of this is right. は can be used make contrasts. For example if you say あなたのシャツは好きです it sounds like, " i like your shirt.. but not your pants or something else" , it comes off as more of an insult. But here it could be "do you like cameras or maybe you like a different hobby or you think cameras are cool but dont have one etc" source: https://youtu.be/qrjHT8FAuWY
「あなたは」カメラが好きですか
(As for you), do you like cameras?
I think this is more like we were already talking about cameras, so I changed the topic to "you" and asked if you like cameras.
カメラは好きですか
(As for) cameras, do you like them?
I think this would be the case if no one had brought up cameras previously. So the topic is introduced with "カメラは".
I believe は and が both work here, since no context is provided. Maybe someone who knows better can confirm.
904
On this construction, i know other more 'formal' courses always use 'ga'. I will add that although I have found Duo to use 'wa' perhaps in excess, I am also aware that having looked for specific rules on the use of 'ga' and 'wa', is very apparent this is a source of confusion for the japanese and explantions differ widely from course to course. The added confusion at least for England english is the japanese refer to subject and topic and we refer to subject and object. In english only, subject and topic ARE the same. Do note that 'ga' and 'wo' are regularly interchangeable and wo is used a lot by Duo which fine.
Depends. は is used when you want to talk about something in general, が when somebody is doing something. Somebody else can probably explain it in more detail (or correct me) as I'm still a beginner as well.
I am convinced that this is supposed to be with ga, we learned that in class...
Why would this not be "wo"? "You" is the subject of the sentence, so camera would be the object. Isn't "wo" used as an object marker?
- 733
suki is not a verb therefore it cannot have a direct object. suki takes ga or ga goes with suki as part of a set construction 何々が 好き です。
In English we say someone likes something; "like" is a verb. In Japanese, we more say something is liked. Suki is an adjective with meaning closer to "is liked".
Here's a detailed video on "wa" and "ga", including examples on what is meant when wa is used instead of ga in certain contexts. Can't remember if it explained scentences like this one specifically, but it made me understand these particles a lot better anyway :)
- 369
Misa's channel is awesome! I recommend all of her videos, she's obviously put in loads of effort and she explains things so well! :)
"Ga" is used to to mark subjects, or when something is out of your control. Like when we say something exists we say "があります" when we like something it is beyond our control, or so the East sees it. When asking if we like something though "ha" is used to emphaticly ask we like something specifc, thus we are showing that X is the topic of conversation. "何のスポーツは好きですか" "野球が好きです"
The particle should be が. In the listening comprehension questions they get it right. It's strange they didn't fix that. It also bothers me that in other "put the sentence together" questions the voice pronounces some Kanji in their alternate ways and doesn't change hiragana to fit how it should be pronounced in the sentence (such as hi to bi)
好き does not have to be used explicitly with が. For example, one situation where you would use は is if you wanted to make a contrast. If you wanted to say "I like tea, but not coffee" you would use は.
