For example could you say 私はテレビを見ながら、母は料理しました。 to say I watched TV while my mother was cooking. Or would that not be possible? All examples of ながら I’ve seen so far seem to have the same subject for the part before and after it.
I believe both actions need the same subject. If you wanted to point out that someone else did something different while you were doing something, you could use another construct, like using 間 to make something like:
私がテレビを見ていた間、母が料理しました。
Wow, people are downvoting this post? This is actually a good question. I guess the community just wants to hear 日本語能力試験に頑張れ！ every post. Anyway, I have no sources for this but I think you’re correct.
That’s interesting. My intuition tells me it’s indeed wrong and looking it up I found multiple sources that agree that it is indeed wrong, such as:
> As a final note, we should point out that ながら cannot be used to describe simultaneous actions that are carried out by different people. So the following sentence is ungrammatical:
> ながら cannot be used when the subjects of the two actions are different people.
> E.g. *ルームメートがステレオを聴ききながら私わたしは勉強べんきょうした。[I studied while my roommate listened to the stereo.] This sentence is unacceptable because the subject of the main clause is the speaker, and the subject of the ながら clause is the roommate. In such a case, 間あいだ can be used instead of ながら.
[*] admittedly there’s not everything and it’s good to integrate it with A Dictionary of Basic/Intermediate/Advanced Japanese grammar and various other online articles / stackexchange posts, but if I have to pick **only** one resource that would be it.
Basically, it is used for the same subject. Even in the following sentence, the subject is I and my mom. L
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I believe both actions need the same subject. If you wanted to point out that someone else did something different while you were doing something, you could use another construct, like using 間 to make something like:
私がテレビを見ていた間、母が料理しました。
Wow, people are downvoting this post? This is actually a good question. I guess the community just wants to hear 日本語能力試験に頑張れ！ every post.
Anyway, I have no sources for this but I think you’re correct.
That’s interesting. My intuition tells me it’s indeed wrong and looking it up I found multiple sources that agree that it is indeed wrong, such as:
> As a final note, we should point out that ながら cannot be used to describe simultaneous actions that are carried out by different people. So the following sentence is ungrammatical:
> > 私はテレビを見ながら、姉は料理をした。
https://www.tofugu.com/japanese-grammar/verb-nagara/
or
> ながら cannot be used when the subjects of the two actions are different people.
> E.g. *ルームメートがステレオを聴ききながら私わたしは勉強べんきょうした。[I studied while my roommate listened to the stereo.] This sentence is unacceptable because the subject of the main clause is the speaker, and the subject of the ながら clause is the roommate. In such a case, 間あいだ can be used instead of ながら.
https://wildnihongo.com/grammar/nagara/
I never would have thought to wonder about this! So interesting.
As others have said, it **needs** to be the same subject for both clauses. As explained in [this page](https://upload.i.ng/file/uncultivatedsupportingfrothy/image.png) from [A Handbook of Japanese Grammar Patterns](https://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Japanese-Patterns-Teachers-Learners/dp/4874246788) which I personally think is the one absolute best and most complete[*] “all in one” books for most grammar points.
[*] admittedly there’s not everything and it’s good to integrate it with A Dictionary of Basic/Intermediate/Advanced Japanese grammar and various other online articles / stackexchange posts, but if I have to pick **only** one resource that would be it.
Basically, it is used for the same subject.
Even in the following sentence, the subject is I and my mom. L
私(わたし)はテレビを見(み)ながら、母(はは)は料理(りょうり)をしながら、父(ちち)が熱く(あつく)語る(かたる)のを話半分に(はなしはんぶんに)聞いて(きいて)いた。
I was watching TV, and my mom was cooking, while each of us were listening halfheartedly to my dad’s passionate talk.