Nuances Of が

“We must not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we began and to know the place for the first time.” – T.S. Elliot

There’s a few things you need to know about が before you start to use it yourself. Two of these things have to do with politeness levels. The others have to do with grammar.

The first point is that が tends to be more often used with ます or です forms (versus dictionary or だ). It is used with both, though. I’m just saying it’s more commonly used in polite form sentences.

a 肉は食べますがすしを食べません。
I eat meat but I will not eat sushi.

a 映画えいがは楽たのしかったですがポプコンはひどかったです。
The movie was fun but the popcorn was horrible.

The other politeness level thing to know (and maybe you already noticed this) is that both sentences have to have the same politeness level. You don’t want to use だ in the first sentences and です in the second. I know I’ve said that the ending sentence chooses the politeness level, but in this case you’re combining two separate sentences together, which means you sort of have to treat them that way too.

INCORRECT

東京とうきょうへ行くがお金はありません。
I will go to Tokyo but I don’t have money.

CORRECT

a 東京とうきょうへ行きますがお金はありません。
I will go to Tokyo but I don’t have any money.

Lastly, you should never start a sentence with が. It’s kind of like how you shouldn’t start a sentence with “But” in English (though, I suppose I do that every once in a while).

NO: すしを食べます。がうなぎがきらいです。

Along the same token, you shouldn’t put a comma before the が either, just like how you wouldn’t put a comma before a “but” in English as well.

NO: すしを食べますが、うなぎがきらいです。

As you go through and practice, just keep these things in mind. They’re related to each other, so they shouldn’t be too hard to remember. Also, try to notice these things as you read the example sentences too. That being said, let’s try this out on something you’ve just learned.

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