Japanese don’t use ga

As all of you who can speak Japanese know, there is a particle in the Japanese grammar that is used for the subjects of a sentence. This is the particle "ga". IT is supposed to be one of the most frequently used particle in a text written in Japanese.

However, what I could notice, be talking to my Japanese friends or by watching videos in Japanese is that, it sounds like they don't use the particle "ga" when speaking.

A good exemple:

"I love music" would be written as "watashi wa ongaku ga suki desu"
However when a Japanese person tells that to you, he/she will always say "watashi wa ongaku suki (desu)"

I wondered if that is because of familiar form, or because maybe this particle mustn't be pronounced when speaking the language...

I'm really uncomfortable about this because when I talk to my Japanese friends I always feel like I use this "ga" and I shouldn't use it because they reply without using "ga".


I've read that sometimes because or familiar form Japanese people remove some particles, for example "wo". But I cannot know if they do the same with "ga".

Thanks for your help !

I hear it plenty, it isn't any sort of hidden particle and is used often in daily life. Reasons you might not be hearing it often could be:

a) you're just not catching it
b) people are speaking casually to you and dropping it
c) the local dialect/the dialect of the people you're hanging around with/the dialect they are adopting drops particles
d) they're substituting another particle for "ga" for various reasons
etc. etc.

If you use "ga" in your speech, it is absolutely not wrong. If you listen to the news on TV, for example, "ga" is used often.

It is very interesting theme.
Often, this problem might be questioned among Japanese.
And, for the conclusion it does not come out.

So, I want to tell you that you are currently discussed in general.

In Japanese culture, it is often to speak for short words.
Be subject to criticism is also often it.

In addition, in the local dialect, you can find the words that it was short.
For these, and considered to have a variety of origin.

Such words is going to penetrate the majority of people, the words will come to be used as general terms.
Sometimes words that had been criticized in the old days is, rests on the dictionary.

Through the circumstances such, you have pointed out, "GA without words" has been used today.
The famous ones, "RA without words" is also present.
But, that it is recognized as Japanese incorrect really is often them.

For example,
Elementary school teacher in Japan, to teach children a sentence that is not abbreviated.
NHK is the national broadcaster, will not be used for text that is short.

Is there a colloquialism or slang to English?
I think you's get accustomed to and feel similar to that of English, and it is the best way.

Finally, Thanks for reading to the end my poor english.


とても興味深いテーマですね。
しばしば、この問題は、日本人の間でも問題視されることがあります。
そして、それに対する結論は出ていません。

ですので、一般的に現在論じられていることをお話します。

日本文化は、言葉を略して話すことがよくあります。
それは批判の対象になることも多いです。

また、地方の方言では、略した言葉を見つけることができます。
これらについては、さまざまな由来を持っていると考えます。

そういった言葉が大多数の人々に浸透していくと、その言葉は、一般的な言葉として用いられるようになってきます。
昔は批判されていた言葉が、辞書に載ることもあります。

あなたが指摘している「GA抜き言葉」は、そのような経緯を経て、今日使われています。
有名なものに、「RA抜き言葉」も存在します。
でも、それらは本当は正しくない日本語と認識されていることが多いです。

たとえば、
日本の小学校教師は、略さない文章を子供たちへ教えます。
国営放送のＮＨＫは、略した文章を用いることはないでしょう。

英語にも俗語や口語表現はありませんか？
あなたが英語のそれと同様のものと感じて慣れてもらうのが、ベストな方法だと思います。

最後に、私のつたない英語を最後まで読んでくれてありがとう。

similar to the differece among YES, YEAH, and YEP.
good speaking shows good breeding.

Having read yoko10's explanation, could you please give an example using "Ra"?

RA example
食べる taberu = eat
食べられる tabe-rareru
食べれる tabe-reru

They're two different things.

What do you like as a hobby?
watashi wa ongaku ga suki desu
(I like music.)
(Music is what I like.)

Do you like music?
watashi wa ongaku suki desu
(I like music.)
(Music? Yes, I like it.)

I can come up with dozens of examples, but long story short, there is a reason when ga is omitted. And it all depends on the context.

@Uco:

I'm sorry but I think that, if you want to say "Music? Yes, I like it", you should say "Watashi wa ongaku WA suki desu"

Because "Wa" is an equivalent of "regarding ..."

"Regarding music, I like it"

I've never read anywhere cases where "ga/wa" is omitted.

"Watashi wa ongaku WA suki desu"

This is grammatically incorrect.

For example,
Situations, such as answer "Watashi wa ongaku WA suki desu" (= I like music.) said,

"Anata wa Gakkou no Jyugyou ga suki desuka? "(= Do you like school classes?)
And,
"Anata wa Ongaku to Sports no ryouhou ga suki desuka? "(= Do you like both of music and sports?)
It is a case of what you are not like was included in the question, such as within.


たとえば、
「私は音楽は好きです。」 と答えるようなシチュエーションは、

「あなたは学校の授業が好きですか？」
や、
「あなたは音楽とスポーツの両方が好きですか？」
といった質問内に自分が好きでないものが含まれていた場合です。

"Watashi wa ongaku WA suki desu" This is grammatically incorrect.
No, izquierda is correct.

As Uco said, like "watashi wa ongaku suki desu kedo...",
it's easy to image that someone say without ga as as spoken language.

those are baby talks.
it may be OK, if you are young. but, inadequate if you are old. impolite to persons who has higher positions. if you are smart, you should speak elegant languages.
announcers of NHK do not speak in such a way.
if you frequently use these kinds of speaking, you will not be able to speak in a correct manner.

Actually, people do those "baby talks" more often than you'd think. You'd notice them if you do transcribing.

音声の文字起こしなどをするとわかりますが、けっこう、人はいいかがんにしゃべっているものです。

By the way, as suggested, "Watashi wa ongaku WA suki desu" means "I do like music (although I may not like other things)." It is indeed gramatically correct as long as it is used in the right context.

Where are you at?
I know in the Tokyo accent at least が sounds a lot more like na than ga. It could be you're just mishearing that. I certainly hear ga more than ha.

guys dont worry so much about this. what you must understand is that, in informal situations whether you use GA or not, it dosent change the meaning of the sentence. u might not hear it much cuz u are listening to informal conversations. in a Japanese sentence.. u can drop all the particals and still be correct and verbally understood.

so..

watashi wa ongaku suki desu.
can also be watashi, ongaku suki desu. or watashi ongaku ga suki desu.
see how i drop the WA the last time but still add GA. theres no changing in meaning.. only in formality.
u can even jus drop everything and jus say 'watashi ongaku suki' . yes it could come off as sounding rather childish but in an informal convo it wouldnt really matter.

i see non japanese speakers get hung up on things like all the time. dont let the particals play pinball with ur brain.