usage of 『は』and『が』with adjectives { na-adj and i-adj }

Question

i really had this question in my mind and it caused me a lot of pain. My question is : what is the difference between using ( wa ) and ( ga ) with adjectives ? i got confusion because i studied that japanese doesn't have real adjectives , instead it has adjectival verbs ( i-adj ) and adjectival nouns ( na-adj ) and both of them are verbs that modify nouns as it is . and it was mixed up with what i have studied about ( wa ) and ( ga ) , that in the adjective-predicate sentences we should use wa usually . can any one here solve my confusion please . thank you in advance . signature : passionate of japanese

Answer 1

In short, は is used to describe known/general information, whereas が is used to report newly perceived temporary event. This rule applies regardless of the type of the predicate (i-adjectives / na-adjectives / verbs).

• ポストは赤い。 A mailbox is red. [general/known information]
• 私の車は赤い。 My car is red. [general/known information]
• 信号が赤い。 The traffic light is (currently) red. [newly perceived information]
• 顔が赤いよ。 (I noticed) Your face is being red. [newly perceived information]
• 財布はない。／財布はありません。 I don't have a wallet. [known information]
• 財布がない。／財布がありません。 (I noticed) My wallet is missing! [newly perceived information]

This usage of が to report new information is called "neutral-description ga", 中立描写文, 現象文, 中立叙述文, etc.

See:

• Can someone explain me the use of は and が in this sentence?

  When you describe or report information which is newly discovered by perception that doesn't include assumption or judgement, Japanese grammar requires you to express it as a sentence whose elements are not topicalized, in short, without adding particles like は.

• Why does 「電話は切れた」 sound more adversarial than 「電話が切れた」?
• What's the difference between wa (は) and ga (が)?

  Any が can be an exhaustive-listing が, but neutral description only works with action verbs, existential verbs, and adjectives/nominal adjectives that represent state change. "Sentences of neutral description present an objectively observable action, existence, or temporary state as a new event."