Hi everyone! Just when I thought I was staring to understand basic grammar I see that this sentence 私はお茶です Apparently it translates better as “I will have tea” instead of “I am tea”. Can anyone explain to me why this is the case? I understand that this translation makes more sense, but why is it …

This is something which confused me when I first came across it as well, but you need to think about what は means. If something is the topic of a conversation, it isn’t necessarily the subject. Saying 私がお茶です would almost definitely mean “I am tea”. If you translate は as “as for”, you may get a bett…

は is a topic indicator. It simply lists what the topic is, not the subject. So it wouldn’t translate at “I am green tea” where “I” is the subject but instead “‘Concerning me’, green tea” where “I/me” is the topic. Tae Kim video: [Learn Japanese from Scratch 2.1.2 - Topic Particle] As f…

Would that mean that you can leave "私は” out. And that “お茶です.” would still be a complete sentence meaning “I will have tea?” ? Assuming that it is about me because of context.

AH! Thank you! The resource I was using was saying something along these lines but I couldn’t understand what they were implying, the way you’ve worded it makes it make more sense. Thank you!

Good question! I am also interested in the response!

[image] JeelSilvers: And that “お茶です.” would still be a complete sentence meaning “I will have tea?” ? Think like this: mentioning who’s doing the action is a bonus in Japanese. When the context is obvious, you won’t see anything mentioning the subject. The example “お茶です” can mean “I/She/He/T…

[image] JeelSilvers: And that “お茶です.” would still be a complete sentence meaning “I will have tea?” ? Yes, a lot of things are assumed from context in Japanese, and by saying 私はお茶です, it would mean “As for me, it’s tea”, and as a more contextual interpretation it can be “It will be tea for me”…

[image] jprspereira: mentioning who’s doing the action is a bonus in Japanese. I would suggest not phrasing this way as は does not mark who is doing the action. Whatever is marked with は can also be the subject (が), the direct/indirect object (を/に), or merely the topic of the sentence. Howeve…

Yeah, agree. I probably generalized too much.

4 people are ordering at a restaurant. Customer 1 - 「ビールください」 Customer 2 - 「私もビール」 Customer 3 - 「お水」 Customer 4 - 「私はお茶です」

It’s interesting to note (and totally off-topic, so feel free to ignore me) that water and tea get the politeness marker お, but beer doesn’t… Is there a general rule for this? Is it because it is written in katakana? Or do only certain known words get the お / ご?

Using は as a topic particle

Japanese Language Grammar

oatmilk January 10, 2018, 9:46pm 17

I’m going to attach screenshots of a book called Unlocking Japanese that I think offer some clarity!

Particle question (が)

The difference between は and が particles

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Using は as a topic particle

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