Word
母 は 化粧 が 終わったら、 駅 前 の カフェ へ 出かけた。haha wa keshou ga owattara, eki mae no kafe e dekaketa.
Meaning
After my mother finished her makeup, she went out to the café in front of the station.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of haha wa keshou ga owattara, eki mae no kafe e dekaketa.
はwa
topic particle
がga
subject particle
のno
possessive case particle
駅eki
station
Questions & Answers about haha wa keshou ga owattara, eki mae no kafe e dekaketa.
Why are both は and が used in the same sentence?
They are doing different jobs.
- 母は marks the topic: the sentence is about the mother.
- 化粧が marks the subject of the smaller clause 化粧が終わったら.
Japanese often has a topic in the main sentence and a separate subject inside a subordinate clause. So this is not a contradiction or double-subject mistake.
Why is it 化粧が終わったら and not 化粧を終わったら?
Because 終わる is an intransitive verb, so it normally goes with が, not を.
- 化粧が終わる = the makeup is finished / the makeup is done
- 化粧を終える = to finish the makeup
So if you want を, you would normally use 終える instead:
- 化粧を終えたら
In everyday Japanese, 化粧が終わる is very natural.
Who is actually doing the makeup in 化粧が終わったら?
