If ha is like a spotlight that puts everything else in the dark (contrast). Do you think ga is like a magnifier that is used for important things and used as a emphasized subject?
Also for すき、きらい、ほしい、あります、います、it is better to use ga especially for beginners because ha has contrasting effect so it’ll have a little different nuance.
For example, すしがすきです is I like sushi but すしはすきです sounds like I like sushi (even though I dislike other things).
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Watch this series from the beginning: [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLg9uYxuZf8x_A-vcqqyOFZu06WlhnypWj](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLg9uYxuZf8x_A-vcqqyOFZu06WlhnypWj) (Lesson 3 deals with your question, but you must have watched Lesson 1 and 2 or else nothing will make sense)
You often see は usage translated to “as for”, e.g as for sushi, I like it. I think this highlights the ‘contrast’ meaning quite clearly to native English speakers.
Here’s an explanation that might help illuminate trouble spots of all kinds.
All speech acts outside of set phrases are a form of argument, the classic syllogism
>A classical syllogism consists of exactly three categorical sentences: two premises and one conclusion.
It’s just that in normal speech we suppress two of the three parts of the classic syllogism.
What is interesting (or frustrating depending on where you are on the comfort scale) is that English and Japanese rarely agree on which things to suppress. Japanese does away with everything but the simple verb/-i adj or copula in the basic sentence pattern, only sometimes adding ancillary info. Because ancillary info is often or even usually unstated, when you do state it you are making a fairly strong argument of some sort. WA is a very strong actor in this regard. GA simply modifies the verb/-i adj or copula, in the same way NI or DE or HE does. Remember that: the particles attach to other things, but they are there to allow the thing they are attached to, to modify the verb/-i adj or copula. The only reason you add things to the simple verb is to modify the verb. Unless you are using WA, which adds a very strong argument to the sentence.
That girl WA I did not cheat on you with. I am telling you plainly, that I cheated on you with someone, just not that particular girl.
In other words, unless you are making a strong argument about something, don’t use WA; use GA. WA completely changes the meaning of the sentence because unlike GA it does not modify the verb, it reframes the entire argument.
Be aware that in the same way we think Japanese are mind readers for leaving out what we think of a necessary parts of the argument and still being able to communicate, and entire argument are changed with the simple change from GA to WA…
Well those Japanese people are completely mystified by, and think we are mind readers for sensing the enormous swing in meaning between A and THE when used in a sentence, even though we actually never pronounced those words in speech as anything but a gutteral noise that is completely indistinguishable to non-natives. And they have no idea how we manage to track pronouns in sentences like this: “My grandmother met my girlfriend, and she said she would not let me ever see her again.”
To a native those pronoun referents are crystal clear ; again despite the way they all become guttural noises in speech.
So Japanese people have simply no idea how these sounds we never actually pronounce in natural speech (A THE HE SHE HER HIM HIS) work, but beyond that, they simply cannot hear them when we say them in natural speech.
Not really. It doesn’t necessarily negate other things but just doesn’t guarantee them, in other words, you may or may not like them for now. Plus, the function of は is not only contrast. It marks shared information. For example, when you ask people if they like sushi, you say すしは すきですか？ and they will reply as すしは すきです, which doesn’t sound contrastive unless you put stress on は. On the other hand, すしが すきです can be an answer to “What do you like?”. In this case, sushi is not shared information.