「が」(ga) vs 「は」(wa) when it comes to specifically "this" object / referring to self


Learning particles and looking at `wa` vs `ga`. From what I have seen `wa` is
the topic/general and `ga` is for the subject/specific.

I was watching [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=128&v=9J4FL1CbXTg)
which had the following example:

> I like Van Gogh's paintings.
>
> Gohho no e ga suki desu.

I understand they are talking about Gogh's paintings specifically so they used
`ga`, but since there isn't plurals in Japanese from what I have learned so
far and `ga` was already used to refer to Gogh specifically and not a specific
painting, how does one express the following?

> I like this Van Gogh painting.

Fumbling around with translators it appears the entire sentence changes to add
`this` and `I` become the topic whereas before `I` was omitted.

> Watashi wa kono Gohho no e ga suki desu.

Still learning the basic sentence structures, but is that correct? Because I
added `this/kono`, the entire sentence must change to include myself as the
topic? I was expecting to just be able to place `kono` somewhere in the
original sentence. When do I know I need to use `Watashi` instead of just
`desu`?




I believe I figured out my confusion. Because `watashi` was omitted in the
previous sentences I learned, I thought `desu` filled in the gap because I
misunderstood what it meant in `TyCobb desu.`. The textbook automatically
omitted `Watashi wa` so I thought `desu` referred to `I` in certain
situations/contexts.

Upon further research, it is `to be, is/am` or used to end a sentence after a
noun or adjective. This made me realize that `suki` in Japanese is a na-
adjective or noun or both? Need to revisit that, but it's not a verb like it
is in English.

So if what I have read is correct, this should be correct:

> Kono Gohho no e ga suki desu.

And if I understand writing (or at least typing and checking the chart) in
hiragana correctly:

> このごっほのえがすきです。




I believe I figured out my confusion. Because `watashi` was omitted in the
previous sentences I learned, I thought `desu` filled in the gap because I
misunderstood what it meant in `TyCobb desu.`. The textbook automatically
omitted `Watashi wa` so I thought `desu` referred to `I` in certain
situations/contexts.

Upon further research, it is `to be, is/am` or used to end a sentence after a
noun or adjective. This made me realize that `suki` in Japanese is a na-
adjective or noun or both? Need to revisit that, but it's not a verb like it
is in English.

So if what I have read is correct, this should be correct:

> Kono Gohho no e ga suki desu.

And if I understand writing (or at least typing and checking the chart) in
hiragana correctly:

> このごっほのえがすきです。

