Also, when you get to video 9 (maybe 8?) She explains は vs が very briefly, but she has another, much longer, video explaining it super in depth which I recommend because then you’ll never be lost regarding those two again. Linked below
Not to say that anything in the video is wrong, but I think は vs が can be a bit of a misleading comparison for English speakers.
It tends to lead beginners to assume that topic equals subject (but weird), which is not true at all.
You have something what you might call “core sentence” which looks like
(nounが) … verb
and there might be bits in … marked with other particles such as を, に etc.
But は is not part of this.
は forms an entirely different element that sits on a higher level: the topic, that clarifies the sentence.
It tells you how to fill in any missing bits.
So when you’re comparing
ねこは かわいい
ねこが かわいい
You’re comparing two entirely different grammatical structures! (Imagine comparing “I have a cat” with “I have bought a cat”! There is some overlap in meaning but the “have” is not the same.)
The first one is really
ねこは [empty]が かわいい
which consists of a sentence with a blank:
[empty]が かわいい “[empty] is cute”
and an extra “clue” like “I’m going to talk about the cat now:” which tells you what [empty] is.
Note that in the main sentence there is no subject. So the subject can’t be emphasized.
On the other hand, if I explicitly provide a subject by choosing
ねこが かわいい
There are no blanks to fill in, but also, because I have explicitly stated the subject, I have implied that it is specifically cats that are cute, very much like how you would use intonation in English.
“Cats are cute” [read normally, no particular implication]
“Dogs are cute” “No, cats are cute”
Note, no connection between topic and subject. I could have also blanked the object or something else like in
ねこは みみが かわいい
where the slot would be placed as
[empty]の みみが かわいい
What can be blanked out like this can be really aspect and sometimes not even really correspond to a particular element.
Similarly, the construction can draw on the addressee’s imagination to connect the word filled into the blank with the topic.
It’s a clue, not a solution.
Of course, the classic joke is the beginner trying to turn
わたしは すし です
into “I am Sushi”, but following the gap logic it should be fairly obvious (given context), what’s going on:
わたしは [empty]が すし です
where the [empty] in a restaurant would be something like “my order”.
3 Likes
Also note that
すきです
is a “double-ga” predicate with the peculiar property that it can take two が-operands
わたしが ねこが すきです
(which I think would correspond to a double emphasis “I like cats”, but I’m not sure)
This is common for verbs that describe states (rather than actions).
The examples in the video correspond to
わたしは [empty]が ねこが すきです
which works just as I explained above.
JSL calls them affective predicates and uses the term “affect” for the phrase followed by が, to make it clear it doesn’t quite correspond to Western ideas of subject and object.
2 Likes
Not to totally hijack the thread, but since we’re already on the topic and you’re clearly more knowledgable on this subject then I:
To my understanding you can use が almost as a possessive. For example:
あすなは髪が可愛いです。
(Hiragana for those so inclined: あすなはかみがかわいいです)
To mean “Asuna’s hair is cute.”
Yet:
あすなの髪は可愛いです。
Means the same thing. Do you know which is more commonly used, or more formal, etc? Because now that I know both I want to know the difference lol.
And I think は vs が is confusing more so because they seem to be used interchangeably sometimes, despite that not actually being the case. Plus the fact が can be used in a few ways/ for a few reasons makes it confusing.
The first is just like the example I mentioned with the cat’s ears 
The video states (at least when directly addressing a person) the first one is nicer. I think the weak contrast implied by は here is more favourable:
“As for you, the [i.e. your] hair is pretty.”
The second might be interpreted as a “contrastive” は
“As for your hair, it’s pretty” where a native speaker might think there was an implied “but … your other parts not so much”
Cf. with English “Well, your hair is pretty, (but) …” which might also be an insult, depending on context.
In general I don’t think there are many hard and fast rules for when は is contrastive or not.
It’s obviously contrastive when the phrase is followed by けど (with a comparison then either explicitly or implicitly made).
Grammatically, が is really only used for the subject of “operational” (action) verbs and the “affects” (subjects/objects) of “affective” verbs.
It can have an implied exclusionary connotation, which similar to the contrastive は has complex, subtle rules, to it.
(But don’t confuse it with the sentence particle が which is the more formal version of けど, which occurs AFTER the verb)
But to be honest, when you’re starting to read, a lot of these nuances are usually not terribly important.
Understanding the basic grammar of topic and subject is more important.
(There is が as a strict possessive/genitive case marker but it’s archaic use that’s used in some fossilized phrases like わがや and it works just like の, not like your example: i.e. AがB; just a fun fact, don’t worry about this)
3 Likes
Also, again, not criticising the video specifically but be generally mindful of native speaker advice about nuance.
It’s fine when it’s fairly obvious things like “this is completely wrong and ungrammatical” but for more nuanced stuff (“this may be mildly rude” etc.) you have to watch out.
As a native speaker you are not generally aware of the rules of your own language and you think more about specific utterances in specific contexts, spoken by a specific speaker, and trying to infer from the examples that you can think of may lead to overgeneralisations.
Don’t ignore it entirely, obviously, just apply a grain of salt.
(I know this from my own experience of answering people’s questions about my native German. Someone recently asked me about using a definite article (“the”) instead of “he” in German, whether it’s something people do and what it means exactly. I can attest the first as a clear yes, since it’s something I do colloquially. As for the nuance… After giving first a wrong (based on contexts where it’s rude), then a convoluted explanation (after thinking of examples where it isn’t), I gave up.)
EDIT: also never forget: intonation and body language can matter a lot in casual conversation (which someone may not think about when considering a particular utterance).
EDITEDIT: and just to clarify, obviously when they are correcting your ACTUAL real life usage, they probably have point, since all the context is well-defined I’m talking specifically to out of context questions about statements.
2 Likes
The Nyan Nyan bookclub is down to just a tiny handful of people now.
I guess a lot of people will start again when we start the next story (scheduled for this weekend), but should we consider slowing the pace somehow? What do people think?
(This poll will close in just a few days - this is not something to drag out!)
- Read the next story at just one page per day (instead of two)
- Take a week off before starting the next story
- Carry on as currently scheduled
0 voters
Whatever you decide to do, I hope you will start a new thread for the second story that way people who haven’t caught up can still ask any questions about the first story while those who want to move ahead can ask questions about the second story and not feel held back.
6 Likes
I hadn’t thought about that. Good idea. But from my experience with the Yotsuba threads, people very rarely come along afterwards to ask subsequent questions. In fact, if you take a look, while the threads are active, there are many hundreds of posts, and in the months following, just one or two are added. I think it is because later readers find everything they need already answered as they go through the threads.
Regarding the little poll above, just three people have voted, so it would seem that participation is pretty low (though we can ave no idea about the numbers of people following along). This all leads me to the conclusion that we should just keep going as we are! Thinking about the approach to the second story is taking up more mental energy than actual reading. So I think the best is to just leave things as they are! Thank you everyone!
1 Like
Or maybe they feel it’s not ok to post because it already finished?
1 Like
On the Yotsuba threads you mean? Well, it clearly states that subsequent questions and comments are welcome. (And, as you know, there’s no real order within each chapter).
I think the best thing, after having given it a LOT of thought, is to leave our Nyan Nyan thread just exactly as it is. I guess more people will join for story 2, and even if they don’t, it’s good to have the whole book on one thread (I remember in Yotsuba there was a debate about this, but it was decided not to make separate threads for separate chapters. Better to keep one thread per physical volume). Thank you @guillepolito for all your input, your ideas have been really important in keeping the main thread going as well as it has been. Thank you.
1 Like
I wish the next story would be in a different post. I think that makes it less intimidating to jump in. Aria is doing a thread per chapter, and that made me a lot more comfortable jumping in late. It feels like it will get very confusing if people do add questions for an earlier story in the middle of another story.
I know that even if I don’t finish this story by the weekend, I’m much more inclined to jump in on a new thread. I don’t want to skip over the current story posts, since I do intend to finish it.
I hadn’t responded to the post yet because I usually check the forums about once a day.
2 Likes
I agree, but I also fear that breaking up a single book into different threads will also be confusing, especially if we decide to do later volumes.
I also feel that this thread is for the people who are here now. Later readers (if any) will benefit from it of course, but to organise our reading on the basis of hypothetical later readers seems odd to me.
Edit: Personally, I like the way the thread is now. I’m just over-worrying because the number of people active on it has dropped off so much! But then again, the people on the thread are fantastic and quality is better than quantity!
2 Likes
Honestly I don’t know wich one is the better option, I think both options have some advantages and disadvantges but at the same time wathever we decide is going to be good.
If we can think of a way to not create confusion with different posts, so then I think different posts would be ideal.
2 Likes
That makes complete sense. I have no idea how many people may or may not respond later on. Do what feels comfortable to you! You’re the one doing the hard work of herding people.
I’m still hoping to catch up before the next story, but I’ll have to see how the week goes. It really is intimidating being so far behind on the story and thread, but that’s all on me and my current busy schedule.
1 Like
@marcusp I totally agree here. You are doing all the hard work so I am happy to leave it as your call.
2 Likes
I think the Beginner Book Club does a great job with this, linking all posts in a main thread:
にゃんにゃん is also setup in a very similar way, but linking to different places in one post. Both have their merits, and I don’t know that one way is better than another.
1 Like
Oh, thank you both so much! Much appreciated!
Like I say, I’m just over-worrying because the numbers of participants are so low now. But everyone who is participating is wonderful, so it’s not really a problem!
My other experience was with the Yotsuba threads. They decided not to split into separate threads for chapters, which I think was the right decision. And though there are just a handful still reading - they are really amazing, a real Yotsuba community over there!
On our thread, who ever had the idea of going through page by page each day was a genius because the pacing works and it will work much better than on the Yotsuba thread for future readers.
Our reading will be over in a couple of months, but the thread will be open for ever - so there’ll be plenty of space for later readers to come and ask questions.
Thank you again everyone. You’ve really helped me a lot thinking this through and I really appreciate the chance to talk about all this off of the main thread.
2 Likes
I really do appreciate the pacing! It makes it so much easier when you’re behind on the book.
2 Likes
sorry to jump in with an opinion when I’m not taking part
I think that if you’re worried about numbers, a new thread for story 2 could help. People who may have fallen behind are more likely to notice a new thread, and will probably feel more comfortable jumping back in, as well (I’m talking about current readers who may just be a bit behind, not hypothetical distant future people - I think it’s a good idea to make the thread as useful as it can possibly be for current readers!).
I’d also say it seems to work well for the beginner book club, but of course your reading schedule is quite different.
Anyway, I’m snooping on your book club so sorry to barge in! But just thought I’d mention that as it seems to be a concern. There are of course other factors you are taking into consideration 
2 Likes