Question about “wa”

3 comments

1. *dare no boushi desu ka* is perfectly fine, no need for a particle. You can’t put *wa* there.

2. The way I understand it, the topic is already implied, but omitted.
   So the full sentence would be:
   (Kono booshi wa) dare no booshi desu ka.

   If so, you will not use the wa again after the second booshi. (Which has a different function from subject/topic)

3. You can put “kore wa/sore wa/are wa” at the beginning of the sentence if you want to have “wa”.

   Also, “desu” is originally a shortened form of “de arimasu”, which already contains the particle “de”. You can sometimes have two particles together, but it has to be in the order “de wa”, not *”wa de”. In fact this is what you have in the negative form “de wa arimasen”. In the positive form you can also sometimes have “…de wa arimasu ga…” (“although … is …, …”).

   Also, in a sentence with some other verb or adjective (other than just “desu”), you can often choose between “wa” and “ga”, but after the question words “dare” or “nani” you should use “ga”. “Dare no boushi ga soko ni arimasu ka?”, “Dare no boushi ga kuroi desu ka?” etc.

   Sentences with “…wa/ga desu ka?” are actually possible, but in that case the “… desu ka?” would be interpreted as “did you say …?”. There are also some specific expressions like “sore wa desu ne”.