Why is there no は needed after the 私?

11 comments

1. Did Duo have a sentence before this one? も drops the subject marker because it is in effect already stated in the prior sentence. For instance, if somebody Introduced themselves and said they were from Tokyo, using 私も adds you to the “set” of people also from Tokyo, so specifying the subject is unnecessary.

   Here’s a relevant Tofugu, you will notice that in the example sentences they dont use は.

   https://www.tofugu.com/japanese-grammar/particle-mo/

2. It has a も so it already makes sense without another particle (although sometimes you can get two together like とは)

3. も already indicates that “I live in Tokyo, *too*.”

   There are cases where there can be two particles after a subject that has は but も isn’t one of them.

4. も replaces は、が or を

   You’ll see a lot of posts here about Duolingo’s shortcomings when it comes to Japanese grammar; find a resource that is specific to Japanese for grammar practice

5. basically yeah も replaces は.

   some other particles can like, compound with は so you might see 〜には – mo can still replace this so you’d get 〜にも.

   (getting into more depth は indicates the “topic”, rather than the “subject” which is indicated by が. the former is *what you are talking about* and the latter is *a grammatical relationship with the verb*. of course they overlap a lot, は also replaces が and を so it can be the grammatical subject or object without additional making)

   that’s hugely simplified. は vs が leaves people confused years into their Japanese study and edge cases like the もが construction make も also hard to fully get. But in 95% of sentences the above is true

6. “I am also a Tokyo husband”? Gotta love those Duolingo sentences. But yeah, も replaces は here as a particle.

7. Since nobody else mentored it..

   しゅじん isn’t correct here, as it means husband. Perhaps you’re looking for しゅっしん, which means hometown.

8. Many thanks everyone! I am aware that Duolingo isn’t the best in teaching grammar, but it’s accessible and free. I’ll look into the links posted here 🙏🏻

9. Check this post about articles, might give you a better understanding. https://www.japanesepod101.com/japanese-particles/#:~:text=は%20(wa),also%20follow%20some%20other%20particles

10. So particle も has a few functions, but one of the more common uses is “too” or “also”
    私も魚を食べます (I also eat fish)
    Since particle は is a topic marker, the initial sentence has already had its topic ‘marked’. The “魚を食べます” part. That why you’ll often see that when someone is talking about something, they will only use 私は only once, until something else is mentioned. At least, this is how I understand it.
    The conversation would be simple:
    -私は魚を食べます
    -私も魚を食べます (or you could just say 私も by itself for an informal effect)

    Essentially, yes, も replaces は. They’re not used together. Though some particles are used together, such say では or には, which is when the location you’re talking about where something happened is also the subject. Particles are definitely confusing, but Imabi.com is a good resource I’d recommend

11. も　and は　can not be used as double particles. Other particles that can not double include Xがも. Grammatically they are in the same category. It does not matter what the noun is. In other words, 私は日本人です。田中さんも日本人です。　田中さんcan not be followed by はも.
    をもis rare, used only for emphasis and very literary. This is unlike other regular particle, such as にも　and とも、　etc.