The spotlight rule: name a person once
Imagine the conversation as a small stage. When you say Tanaka-san wa, Tanaka-san walks into the spotlight. Every sentence after that is about Tanaka-san until someone else is named. Repeating the name, or replacing it with a pronoun, would be like announcing an actor who is already standing there.
Two colleagues are talking by the lift. One names the new section chief once, and three sentences follow with no subject at all.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 新しい課長は大阪から来ました。 | Atarashii kachō wa Ōsaka kara kimashita. | The new section chief came from Osaka. |
| とても静かです。 | Totemo shizuka desu. | He's very quiet. (Literally: very quiet is.) |
| でも、仕事は速いです。 | Demo, shigoto wa hayai desu. | But he works fast. (Literally: but as for work, is fast.) |
| 毎朝七時に来ます。 | Maiasa shichi-ji ni kimasu. | He comes in at seven every morning. |
Notice the third sentence. Shigoto wa does not push the section chief off the stage. It narrows the light to one aspect of him. The person in the spotlight changes only when another person is named.
Two defaults: statements are about me, questions are about you
What if nobody has been named? Then the two people actually present, you and your listener, are on stage by default. A statement is taken to be about the speaker, because you are the authority on your own actions. A question is taken to be about the listener, for the same reason. This is all a beginner needs for a first conversation.
At lunchtime a classmate leans over to your desk.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| もう食べましたか。 | Mō tabemashita ka. | Have you eaten yet? |
| いいえ、まだです。 | Iie, mada desu. | No, not yet. |
| 何を食べますか。 | Nani o tabemasu ka. | What are you going to eat? |
| ラーメンを食べます。 | Rāmen o tabemasu. | I'm going to have ramen. |
| 一緒に行きますか。 | Issho ni ikimasu ka. | Will you come along? |
There is not a single watashi or anata in the exchange, and none is missing. Adding anata wa to the questions would be grammatical, but it would sound like pointing a finger.
Verbs with direction: ageru, kureru, morau
Some verbs carry an arrow. Kureru means give, with the arrow pointing at the speaker or the speaker's side. Ageru means give, with the arrow pointing away. Morau means receive. A separate post on this site teaches these verbs fully. Here, what matters is that the arrow tells you who is who even when nobody is named.
You are showing a friend the umbrella you came home with on a rainy evening.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 貸してくれました。 | Kashite kuremashita. | Someone lent it to me. (Literally: lent, and gave me that favour.) |
| 貸してあげました。 | Kashite agemashita. | I lent it to them. |
| 駅員さんに教えてもらいました。 | Ekiin-san ni oshiete moraimashita. | I had the station attendant tell me. |
| 手伝ってくれますか。 | Tetsudatte kuremasu ka. | Will you help me? |
The first two sentences differ only in the helping verb, and the people swap places. With kureru, the lender is somebody else and the receiver is me. With ageru, the lender is me.
Keigo points at a person
Politeness is the reason keigo exists, and identifying people is its useful side effect. Honorific verbs raise the person who acts, so the actor cannot be the speaker. Humble verbs lower the person who acts, so the actor must be the speaker or the speaker's side. On the phone with a shop or an office, this is often your only clue.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| いつ日本にいらっしゃいましたか。 | Itsu Nihon ni irasshaimashita ka. | When did you come to Japan? |
| 明日の三時に伺います。 | Ashita no san-ji ni ukagaimasu. | I will call on you at three tomorrow. |
| 資料はご覧になりましたか。 | Shiryō wa goran ni narimashita ka. | Have you looked at the documents? |
| はい、拝見しました。 | Hai, haiken shimashita. | Yes, I have looked at them. |
One element changed: who is the sentence about?
Feelings and wishes are the third signal. In Japanese you can state your own inner state directly, but not another person's, because you cannot see inside them. Ureshii desu and ikitai desu are therefore about the speaker. For someone else, you report what shows on the outside, with sō, looks, or garu, shows signs of. A separate post covers garu and tagaru in detail. The table shows how a single ending moves the spotlight.
| Sentence | Reading | What it says |
|---|---|---|
| うれしいです。 | Ureshii desu. | I am happy |
| うれしそうです。 | Ureshisō desu. | He or she looks happy: someone other than the speaker |
| 水が飲みたいです。 | Mizu ga nomitai desu. | I want to drink water |
| 水を飲みたがっています。 | Mizu o nomitagatte imasu. | He or she wants water: the wish is visible from outside |
| 行きます。 | Ikimasu. | I am going, unless someone else is in the spotlight |
| 行きますか。 | Ikimasu ka. | Are you going? |
| まいります。 | Mairimasu. | I am going: humble, so it must be the speaker |
| いらっしゃいます。 | Irasshaimasu. | A respected person is going, coming or present |
Questions reverse the feeling rule in a logical way. Samui desu ka asks about the listener's feeling, because the listener is the one who knows. So ureshii desu is me, and ureshii desu ka is you.
Beyond the basics: when you must state the subject
The spotlight image also tells you when silence fails. State the subject whenever the light has to move or the stage is empty.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 誰が作りましたか。 | Dare ga tsukurimashita ka. | Who made this? |
| 私が作りました。 | Watashi ga tsukurimashita. | I did. (Literally: I am the one who made it.) |
| 私は行きますが、夫は行きません。 | Watashi wa ikimasu ga, otto wa ikimasen. | I'm going, but my husband isn't. |
| 田中さんに電話しました。田中さんは忙しそうでした。 | Tanaka-san ni denwa shimashita. Tanaka-san wa isogashisō deshita. | I phoned Tanaka-san. Tanaka-san seemed busy. |
- A new person enters: name them, usually with wa or ga
- The subject changes from the previous sentence
- You contrast two people: watashi wa ikimasu ga, otto wa ikimasen
- You answer a dare ga question: the answer takes ga
- Two people are in play and the verb has no arrow
In the last example, the first sentence is about me and the second about Tanaka-san, so the name is said again. Leaving it out would not be a disaster here, because isogashisō already points away from the speaker, but with a neutral verb the listener would assume that I am still the subject.
Why repeating watashi wa sounds unnatural
In a language where silence is normal, every spoken subject carries meaning. Watashi wa does not just mean I. It means as for me, and it invites a comparison with somebody else. Say it once in a self-introduction and it sets the topic. Say it in five sentences in a row and you seem to be insisting, again and again, that you are different from the others.
The nearest neighbours of the dropped subject are the topic with wa and the subject with ga. Wa puts someone in the spotlight and keeps them there. Ga picks a person out as new or as the answer. Silence says nothing has changed. A post on sentence structure explains wa and ga as such, and a post on avoiding ambiguity deals with repairing unclear sentences. The choice here is simpler: if nothing has changed, say nothing.
In casual speech even more disappears. Particles drop, and a whole exchange can be iku? and iku, are you going and I am. In formal writing, subjects are stated more often, because a reader cannot ask who you mean.
How to ask who when you are lost
Native speakers lose the thread too, and the language has quick repairs for it. None of them is rude. You are at a party, a friend is telling a fast story, and you missed the moment the spotlight moved.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| すみません、誰がですか。 | Sumimasen, dare ga desu ka. | Sorry, who did? |
| 誰の話ですか。 | Dare no hanashi desu ka. | Who are we talking about? (Literally: whose story is it?) |
| 私のことですか。 | Watashi no koto desu ka. | Do you mean me? |
| 田中さんが行ったんですか。 | Tanaka-san ga itta n desu ka. | So it was Tanaka-san who went? |
The last pattern is the most natural of all. Offer your best guess with ga and n desu ka, and let the speaker confirm or correct it.
Common mistakes when dropping the subject
The first mistake is keeping English habits: watashi wa gakusei desu. Watashi wa Tōkyō ni sunde imasu. Watashi wa ryōri ga suki desu. Each sentence is correct, and the set is wrong in feeling. Say watashi wa once and drop it from the second and third.
The second is anata wa in questions, as in anata wa ikimasu ka. English needs you, so learners supply it. Drop it, or use the listener's name: Mori-san wa ikimasu ka.
The third is stating another person's feelings directly: Tanaka-san wa ureshii desu. It is wrong because it claims knowledge of someone's inner state. Say Tanaka-san wa ureshisō desu.
The fourth is the opposite error, dropping too much. Imōto ni denwa shimashita. Kaze o hikimashita. The listener will take the second sentence to mean that you caught a cold. If your sister did, say imōto wa kaze o hikimashita.
The fifth is answering a who question without the subject. To dare ga kimasu ka, the reply kimasu is wrong, because the subject is the very thing that was asked for. Say Yamada-san ga kimasu.