Am I correctly using は and が here.


A friend mentioned that he's sometimes not understood well in English. I
thought his English was perfectly OK. I responded,

> それはそうだかもしりませんが私があなたの言うことは通じます

Am I using these particles correctly? Or should I have said

> それはそうだかもしりませんが私はあなたの言うことが通じます

If the first is wrong, could someone explain what I'm not getting.




You're using the verb 通じる incorrectly. This is an intransitive verb which is
used in the form of `[language/word] + が/は + [person] + に + 通じる`, for example
私の英語が彼に通じる (lit. "My English goes through to him"). If you want to use 通じる,
you can say either of:

>   * あなたの言うことは私に通じます。
>   * あなたの言うことは私には通じます。
>

The latter sentence ( _contrastive_ は used with に) is more natural in this
situation.

If you want to keep 私 as the "subject", the correct verb choice is 分かる. But
you may find 分かる tricky at first glance -- the standard usage is `[person] + は
+ [target] + が + 分かる`. If you're not sure at this point, read this first: [Why
is it 日本語がわかります instead of
日本語をわかります?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/2505/5010)

So you can say the same thing like so:

> 私はあなたの言うことが分かります。

* * *

OK what I've written so far is a dupe answer, but the following part is
important.

**私 is usually used with は** because 私 is almost always in [the universe of
discourse](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/22/5010). But 私 is used with が
when:

  * So-called exhaustive-listing が is intended
  * 私 is in a relative clause (i.e., when 私 is not the _main_ topic of the sentence)

「私 **が** あなたの言うことが分かります。」 is also a grammatical sentence, but this sounds a
bit funny in this situation. This sounds like "I'm _the_ (only) one who can
understand what you say", as if other people were not able to understand him,
due to the "exhaustive listing" function of が.




You're using the verb 通じる incorrectly. This is an intransitive verb which is
used in the form of `[language/word] + が/は + [person] + に + 通じる`, for example
私の英語が彼に通じる (lit. "My English goes through to him"). If you want to use 通じる,
you can say either of:

>   * あなたの言うことは私に通じます。
>   * あなたの言うことは私には通じます。
>

The latter sentence ( _contrastive_ は used with に) is more natural in this
situation.

If you want to keep 私 as the "subject", the correct verb choice is 分かる. But
you may find 分かる tricky at first glance -- the standard usage is `[person] + は
+ [target] + が + 分かる`. If you're not sure at this point, read this first: [Why
is it 日本語がわかります instead of
日本語をわかります?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/2505/5010)

So you can say the same thing like so:

> 私はあなたの言うことが分かります。

* * *

OK what I've written so far is a dupe answer, but the following part is
important.

**私 is usually used with は** because 私 is almost always in [the universe of
discourse](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/22/5010). But 私 is used with が
when:

  * So-called exhaustive-listing が is intended
  * 私 is in a relative clause (i.e., when 私 is not the _main_ topic of the sentence)

「私 **が** あなたの言うことが分かります。」 is also a grammatical sentence, but this sounds a
bit funny in this situation. This sounds like "I'm _the_ (only) one who can
understand what you say", as if other people were not able to understand him,
due to the "exhaustive listing" function of が.

