Breakdown of kare ga kuru to kakushinshimashita.
がga
subject particle
彼kare
he
とto
quotative particle
来るkuru
to come
Questions & Answers about kare ga kuru to kakushinshimashita.
Why is 彼 included here? Would Japanese normally omit it?
Often, yes. If the subject is obvious from context, Japanese frequently omits it, so 来ると確信しました could sound more natural in many situations.
However, 彼 is included when the speaker wants to make it clear that it is he who is coming, or when the context does not already make that obvious.
Why is the particle が used after 彼 instead of は?
が marks 彼 as the subject of 来る.
In 彼が来ると確信しました, the embedded statement is 彼が来る = he will come / he comes. The が belongs to that inner clause.
If you used は instead, 彼は来ると確信しました, it could still be possible in some contexts, but it would give 彼 more of a topic or contrastive feeling, such as as for him or he, at least. In this sentence, が is the more straightforward choice.
Why is 来る in the plain present form even though 確信しました is past tense?
