0073 – Japanese basics (N5-N3) – Important Object

 

When asking the place of what you’re looking for

 

When you find the object relatively more important than other elements in a sentence, you pick it up by adding a particle は(wa) and moving it to the beginning of the sentence.

 

So for example,

 

どこにトイレがありますか。

Doko ni toire ga ari masu ka.

Where is the toilet?

 

Can be

 

A:

トイレはどこにありますか。

Toire wa doko ni ari masu ka.

Where is the toilet?

 

B:

2階にあります。

Nikai ni ari masu.

It’s on the 2nd floor.

 

And the 2nd one is usually used when you’re urgently looking for the toilet.

 

Explaining something important

 

Likewise, when you want to specially explain something, you can do it by adding a particle は(wa) and moving it to the beginning of the sentence.

 

So for example, when you are introducing your house to your visitor, and you want to emphasize the place of the toilet, you would say

 

トイレは２階にあります。

Toire wa ni kai ni ari masu.

There is the toilet on the 2nd floor.

 

But if you don’t feel the necessity to emphasize it, you can say 

 

２階にトイレがあります。

nikai ni toire ga ari masu.

There is a toilet on the 2nd floor.