Grammar Info

N5 Lesson 5: 6/12

が

But, However

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

Structure

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

Details

  • Part of Speech

    Particle

  • Word Type

    Conjunctive Particle

  • Register

    Standard

  • 品詞

    助詞

  • 単語の種類

    接続助詞

  • 使用域

    一般

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.

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

Examples

  • 難(むずか)しいですが、頑張(がんば)ります。

    It is difficult, but I will do my best.

    In an AがB sentence, unlike many other grammar points, the politeness in the A and B clauses (parts of the sentence) should match. So '難しいが, 頑張る' and '難しいですが, 頑張ります' are both correct. However '難しいが、頑張ります' would be considered unnatural.

  • 寒(さむ)いですが、外(そと)へ行(い)きます。

    It's cold, but I will go outside.

  • ロイさんの携帯(けいたい)は古(ふる)いですが、速(はや)いです。

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

  • すみませんが、この漢字(かんじ)の意味(いみ)は何(なん)ですか。

    I'm sorry, but what is the meaning of this kanji?

  • 綺麗(きれい)ですが、危(あぶ)ないです。

    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?

    日本語にほんごは面白おもしろいが 、難むずかしいです。

  • 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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