Particle Usages


I have 3 main questions regarding different particles and their use.

1) In the sentence 明日、テストがありますね what is the point of having が instead of は?

2) In the sentence このへんに本屋がありますか how is に being used here? I learned that に is
only used for movements like いきます.

3) For this sentence, the speaker previously received the listener's phone
number after asking them. The speaker then thanks the listener in the sentence
ありがとう。じゃ、今度、電話をしますね。What is the point of ね here?




This is a really broad question, and I don't want this answer to get too long.
If my answer to one of your questions is too brief, I suggest asking another
question with more specifics. Posts like this typically should be asked as
three separate questions, but I'll do my best.

* * *

> In the sentence 明日、テストがありますね what is the point of having が instead of は?

This is a good question. This highlights one of the key differences between は
and が.

With は, you have the topic marker. When you say テスト **は** ある, you technically
say that there is a test, but that's no different from normal. The impression
is that tests happen all the time, so tomorrow isn't any different. Use of は
here can come off as nonchalant, casual, or even cocky.

With が, you get a subject marker. When you say テスト **が** ある, you say that
_the_ test is tomorrow. There may or may not be tests on other days, but _the_
test is tomorrow. I is it inherently more specific and target to a specific
subject.

Here's a great post on the difference between は and が. I highly suggest you
read it, as the differences are very subtle to the new Japanese speaker.

[What's the difference between wa (は) and ga
(が)?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/22/22352)

* * *

> In the sentence このへんに本屋がありますか how is に being used here? I learned that に is
> only used for movements like いきます.

As you have no doubt seen in the comments, に is not limited to indicating a
direction of travel. There are uses in [passive and causative
structures](http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/causepass#Causative_Verbs)
to indicate actors. It can be a particle indicating location of existence, it
can indicate the result of a change, it can be an object of a verb, it can be
the source of a verb, it can indicate a specific time, and it can even be the
Japanese equivalent of the English per. All of these uses of に can be found on
[this web page](https://www.wasabi-jpn.com/japanese-grammar/japanese-particle-
ni-clear-up-all-doubts-you-may-have/). Once again, I suggest you study this
source.

In this particular case, に represents a location of existence. I would
translate the sentence as:

> Is there a bookstore in this area?  
>  (linear translation as follows:) This area (このへん) in (に) bookstore (本屋)
> exist (ある)?

While in this case, に can translate to 'in,' do not consider that a 1 to 1
translation. There area cases where the location of existence particle does
not translate to 'in.'

* * *

> For this sentence, the speaker previously received the listener's phone
> number after asking them. The speaker then thanks the listener in the
> sentence ありがとう。じゃ、今度、電話をしますね。What is the point of ね here?

The simple answer is that in this case, ね provides emphasis to what is being
said. In this case, I would say that the English equivalent is:

> I _will_ call you tomorrow.

What's really happening is that the speaker is indicating a decision after
some consideration.

ね, has other uses however. (I used [this source](https://www.wasabi-
jpn.com/japanese-grammar/sentence-ending-particles/) heavily for the following
examples. I recommend you read it.)

You can use it like to ask for agreement: `むずかしいね。(difficult, isn't it?)` In
response, you can agree with ね as well: `うん、むずかしいね。`

You can use it to confirm information: `がっこうにくるね。 (you're coming to school,
right?)`

You can use it to express something after consideration (as is the case with
your sentence).

You can use it to express denial: `げんきじゃないね。 (No, they aren't lively.)`

You can use it as a filler word: `あしたね、いくつもり？ (Are you going tomorrow?)` In
this case, ね doesn't really have meaning.

