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Conjunction
| A disjunctive coordinate conjunction that combines two sentences. | But |
| 【Related Expression: だが; だけど; でも; けれども; しかし】 |
(ks). ジョンは来た・来ましたがメアリーは来なかった・来ませんでした。
John came but Mary didn't (come).
| S1 がS2 | 太郎は泳いだ が 次郎は泳がなかった。 | Taro swam but Jiro didn't swim. |
(a). 私はビールは飲むが酒は飲まない。
I drink beer but don't drink sake.
(b). 旅行をしたいがお金がない。
I want to travel but I don't have the money.
1. が2, like 'but' in English, combines two sentences which express contrastive ideas. However, が is much weaker than 'but' in that it is sometimes used simply to combine two sentences for stylistic reasons even if those two sentences do not represent contrastive ideas. For example, the が in (1) is used simply as a transition word to connect two sentences.
2. が2 makes a sentence unit with the preceding sentence, not with the following sentence. Thus, it is wrong to place a comma before が or to start a sentence with が, as in (2) and (3).
3. Sentence1 and Sentence2 in "Sentence1がSentence2" must be in the same form whether formal or informal, because they are both independent clauses. (4) and (5) are stylistically awkward.
(⇨ けれども)
4. Sentence2 in "Sentence1がSentence2" is often omitted when it is understandable from the context and/or the situation, or when the speaker doesn't want to continue for some reason (e.g., the sentence is too direct, impolite, embarrassing，etc.). Examples:
5. When "Sentence1がSentence2" expresses contrastive ideas, the contrastive は typically appears in Sentence1 and Sentence2 as in Key Sentence and Example (a).
(⇨ は1)
【Related Expressions】
だが, だけど, でも, しかし and けれども express the same idea as が. However, the first four cannot make compound sentences like が does; they must occur at the beginning of a sentence, as in [1].
(See Note 2.)
[1]
けれども differs from が in that けれども is a subordinate conjunction meaning 'although'. That is, in "Sentence1けれどもSentence2", Sentence1けれども is a subordinate clause and Sentence2 is a main clause. In "Sentence1がSentence2", on the other hand, both Sentence1 and Sentence2 are independent clauses.