When do you use 'wa' in Japanese?

Answer 1

The particle は (wa) is used to mark the topic of a sentence in Japanese. A general rule of thumb approach for a beginner is to use は to mark words that are being talked about in the sentence, or what's carrying out the action. Many people also like to think of は as meaning 'as for...' or something similar.

Examples:

• 私は人間です (watashi wa ningen desu) - "Iam a human."
• 猫は魚を食べました (neko wa sakana o tabemashita) - "The cat ate fish."

は may also be used to add emphasis.

Example:

• 警察は来た (keisatsu wa kita) - "The police came."

In most cases, the particle が (ga) would probably be used to mark 警察 (keisatsu) in the example above. However, the emphasis is added to the fact that it was the police that came and not someone else (different outcome expected).