Sentence structure confusion.

I'm trying to learn Japanese with this book that I have and It's working quite well but I've come across two sentences that mean the same thing but are structured differently and I'm wondering why:

1) Docchi ga anata no usagi desu ka
Which one is your Rabbit

2) Anata no tori wa dore desu ka
Which one is your Bird

I know the difference between the words Docchi and Dore (Docchi being out of a selection of 2 and Dore being out of a selection of 3+) but if the first sentence is correct then shouldn't the second sentence be:

Dore wa anata no tori desu ka

Why are they arranged differently and why does one sentence say ga where the other say wa.

I hope I'm making sense.

1) Docchi ga anata no usagi desu ka
Which one is your Rabbit


2) Anata no tori wa dore desu ka
Which one is your Bird


The difference between ga and wa in this case is a question of which phrase is the subject of the sentence (wa) and which is the direct object or least important word (ga). In number one "Docchi no usagi" is your subject, but like English we can switch up the sentence a bit and have the "wa" (or in English a phrase) be implied.
So really the sentence is:
"Docchi ga anata no usagi(wa) desu ka"

An example in English would be
Which one of these balls is yours?
Are one of these balls yours?
Of course, don't take this example too literally for Japanese translation as both grammar systems are barely similar. But just to remind you that English is interchangeable too.

For the second sentence, you COULD say "Dore ga anata no tori (wa) desu ka" But this time the ga is implied. So it really says:
"Anata no tori wa dore (ga) desu ka"


Generally, because of desu's presence, words that come right before it do not need particles.

To say "Which one is your rabbit?" you can say either of the following:
- Docchi ga anata no usagi desu ka
- Anata no usagi wa docchi desu ka

To say "Which one is your bird?" you can say either of the following:
- Anata no tori wa dore desu ka
- Dore ga anata no tori desu ka

"wa" is often called the topic marker, and it comes after the topic (something that is known) of the sentence. (In the above sentences, "anata no usagi" and "anata no tori" are the topic.)

And "ga" is the subject marker. Also it is used after question words such as "dore" "docchi," "dare," etc., the unknown part.

P. S.
In the above post, where it says:
For the second sentence, you COULD say "Dore ga anata no tori (wa) desu ka" But this time the ga is implied. So it really says:
"Anata no tori wa dore (ga) desu ka"

Sorry but please forget about the "(wa)" and "(ga)" there - they do not belong there at all.

So if I was talking to another person who spoke Japanese it wouldn't make a difference which sentence structure I use?

neutral way to say what you want to say can be this way.

どちらはあなたのウサギですか？
Dochira ha anatano usagi desuka?
Which one is your rabbit?

'Docchi' is used in a casual phrase. Example: Docchi ni itta?
Where it go?

Jade2001,

That's right. I suppose the textbook should have just listed the two sentences together as different ways to say the same thing :)