Word
マウス が 動かない ので、 新しい マウス に 替えます。mausu ga ugokanai node, atarashii mausu ni kaemasu.
Meaning
Because the mouse isn’t working, I’ll replace it with a new mouse.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of mausu ga ugokanai node, atarashii mausu ni kaemasu.
にni
destination particle
がga
subject particle
新しいatarashii
new
のでnode
reason particle
Questions & Answers about mausu ga ugokanai node, atarashii mausu ni kaemasu.
Why is が used after マウス in マウスが動かない instead of は?
In マウスが動かない, が marks マウス as the thing that is not working / not moving.
A simple way to think about it:
- が points to the thing affected by the verb or adjective
- は sets up a topic, often with contrast
So:
- マウスが動かない = The mouse doesn’t work / move
- マウスは動かない can sound more like As for the mouse, it doesn’t work or the mouse (unlike something else) doesn’t work
In many everyday sentences like this, が sounds more natural when you are simply stating the problem.
What form is 動かない?
動かない is the negative plain form of 動く.
- dictionary form: 動く = to move
- negative plain form: 動かない = does not move / won’t move
This is how -u verbs are negated:
- 書く → 書かない
- 行く → 行かない
- 動く → 動かない
So grammatically, 動かない is just 動く changed into the plain negative.
Does 動かない literally mean doesn’t move? Why does it mean the mouse is broken?
