A proposed tool about the use of は and が and about the use of "the" and "a" in English


**UPDATE** : Based on the discussion below, I now see that my proposal is not
valid. But still, I want to make a clarification about the following proposal,
anyway. Just please keep in mind that I'm keeping this modified version of the
original question here simply for reference, and not to assert that it's
correct, because I now know that it indeed is _**not**_ nearly as correct as I
was hoping.

I'm changing my original question below by replacing "indefinite/definite
article" with "indefinite/definite _modifier_ ". Such a "modifier" could be an
article, an adjective, or even an adjectival phrase. In "some cats like fish",
"some" is an indefinite modifier. The same is true with simply "cats like
fish", in which the lack of a modifying word or phrase is a plural manner of
indicating indefiniteness, and in this case, _no modifier_ is an _implied_
indefinite modifier. Likewise, in "those cats like fish", "those" is a
definite modifier. In my proposal (which, again, I now realize is indeed not
valid), replace references to "A" and "THE" as follows ...

**MODIFIED ORIGINAL QUESTION** :

Japanese speakers (and other non-English speakers) sometimes get confused
about when to use ~~the article "THE"~~ a definite modifier (one example being
"THE") in English versus ~~the article "A"~~ an indefinite modifier (one
example being "A") in English. Likewise, English speakers sometimes get
confused about when to use the particle _**は**_ versus the particle _**が**_ in
Japanese.

An idea occurred to me recently which might be able to link the use of these
English ~~articles~~ modifiers with the use of these Japanese particles. I'd
like to explain this idea, and then I'd like feedback as to how valid this
idea of mine might or might not be.

Suppose that you and I are having a conversation, and you ask me what I'm
doing tomorrow. If I was speaking English, I might say, "A friend asked me to
lunch tomorrow." But if I want to tell you this in Japanese, I believe that it
would be ...

_**ともだち が**_ _[asked me to lunch tomorrow]_

(I'm sorry, but my Japanese vocabulary knowledge is weak, but the translation
of "asked me to lunch tomorrow" is not pertinent to what I'm asking about
here, anyway).

Then, suppose you follow up by asking me, "Oh, what restaurant are you going
to?"

I might respond as follows in English: "The friend likes to cook. We'll be
eating at home." In Japanese, I believe that would be ...

_**ともだち は**_ _[likes to cook. We'll be eating at home]_

(Again, the translation of "likes to cook. We'll be eating at home" is not
pertinent to what I am asking about here.)

Notice that in my first sentence, the English is " _ **A**_ friend" (which
uses an indefinite modifier), and we use _**が**_ in Japanese. And in my second
sentence, the English is " _ **THE**_ friend" (in which we use a definite
modifier), and we use _**は**_ in Japanese.

So, would it be safe to say that if we are correctly using an indefinite
~~article~~ modifier in English such as "A" or "SOME" or no modifier at all in
the plural case (which implies indefinite) to describe the subject or topic of
an English sentence, then we would tend to use _**が**_ in Japanese? And would
it also be safe to say that if we are correctly using a definite ~~article~~
modifier such as "THE" or "THESE" in English to describe the subject or topic
of a sentence, then we would tend to use _**は**_ in Japanese?

And conversely, would it be safe to say that when _**が**_ is correctly used
for the sentence subject in Japanese, an indefinite ~~article~~ modifier such
as "A" or "SOME" or an empty implied modifier would generally be correct in
English? And would it be safe to say that when _**は**_ is correctly used for
the sentence topic in Japanese, a definite ~~article~~ modifier such as "THE"
or "THOSE" would generally be correct in English?

I know that this "rule" wouldn't work 100-percent of the time. However, it
seems to me that it could work in at least many cases, and therefore, perhaps
could it be a good mnemonic device for English speakers to help them decide
when to use _**が**_ and _**は**_? And likewise, perhaps could it be a good
mnemonic device for Japanese speakers to help them decide when to use ~~" A"
and "THE"~~ definite or indefinite modifiers in English?

What are your opinions about this idea of mine?

_**And again, based on the discussion below, I realize that this original
proposal of mine is not as helpful as I was originally hoping, and I'm only
leaving it here for reference.**_




As you pointed out, such a similarity does exist, and mentioning it on the
first page of the relevant explanation in a Japanese textbook can work well as
an icebreaker to draw the reader's interest. In fact, [this
answer](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/51/5010) is the most-voted answer
on this site, and has a similar explanation. Without explaining it in this
way, some learners might not even realize that distinguishing between は and が
is important.

However, if understanding the difference between は and が were as simple as
this, learners would not be so confused. In reality, the usage of a/the and
は/が differ in most cases, and it would take several dozen pages of explanation
just to give learners a rough understanding of how to use them. Basically,
once you realize that these differences are important, it's faster to learn
how to use them by forgetting their connections to the language you already
know.

I have an English grammar book for Japanese high school students, and it has a
chapter of several dozen pages solely on articles. Most of the content written
there cannot be compared to the differences between は and が at all.




As you pointed out, such a similarity does exist, and mentioning it on the
first page of the relevant explanation in a Japanese textbook can work well as
an icebreaker to draw the reader's interest. In fact, [this
answer](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/51/5010) is the most-voted answer
on this site, and has a similar explanation. Without explaining it in this
way, some learners might not even realize that distinguishing between は and が
is important.

However, if understanding the difference between は and が were as simple as
this, learners would not be so confused. In reality, the usage of a/the and
は/が differ in most cases, and it would take several dozen pages of explanation
just to give learners a rough understanding of how to use them. Basically,
once you realize that these differences are important, it's faster to learn
how to use them by forgetting their connections to the language you already
know.

I have an English grammar book for Japanese high school students, and it has a
chapter of several dozen pages solely on articles. Most of the content written
there cannot be compared to the differences between は and が at all.

