Breakdown of kaisya ga kanozyo wo yatoimasita.
Questions & Answers about kaisya ga kanozyo wo yatoimasita.
How do I read this sentence?
It is read:
かいしゃ が かのじょ を やといました。
A few notes:
- 会社 = かいしゃ
- 彼女 = かのじょ
- を is written を but pronounced お
- 雇いました = やといました
What does が do in this sentence?
が marks the subject of the sentence.
So in 会社が, it tells you that the company is the one doing the action.
In other words:
- 会社 = the company
- が = is the one that...
So the company is the one who hired someone.
Why is を used after 彼女?
を marks the direct object of the verb.
That means 彼女 is the person directly affected by the action 雇いました.
So:
- 彼女を = her
- The company hired her
Why is it が and not は?
This is a very common question.
Both が and は can appear after something like 会社, but they do different jobs:
- が marks the grammatical subject and often presents neutral or new information.
- は marks the topic and can add a sense of contrast or “as for...”
So:
会社が彼女を雇いました。
= The company hired her.
This sounds like a straightforward statement of fact.会社は彼女を雇いました。
= As for the company, it hired her.
This could sound more contrastive, like maybe someone else did not hire her.
In a simple standalone sentence, が is very natural.
Why does the verb come at the end?
Japanese normally uses Subject–Object–Verb order, unlike English, which usually uses Subject–Verb–Object.
So:
- English: The company hired her.
- Japanese: Company + her + hired
That is why 雇いました comes at the end.
What form is 雇いました?
雇いました is the polite past form of the verb 雇う, which means to hire.
Forms:
- Dictionary form: 雇う
- Polite non-past: 雇います
- Polite past: 雇いました
So 雇いました means hired or did hire in polite speech.
Is 彼女 always she or her?
Not always.
彼女 can mean:
- she
- her
- sometimes girlfriend, depending on context
In this sentence, because it is followed by を, it is the object, so it means her, not she.
Here it does not mean girlfriend. The context and grammar point to her.
Is it natural to use 彼女 like this in Japanese?
Can the word order change?
Yes, to some extent.
Because particles show each word’s role, Japanese word order is more flexible than English word order.
For example, this sentence could also be rearranged as:
彼女を会社が雇いました。
This still means the same basic thing, because:
- が still marks 会社 as the subject
- を still marks 彼女 as the object
However, the usual neutral order is:
会社が彼女を雇いました。
Can parts of this sentence be omitted?
Yes. Japanese often leaves out words that are understood from context.
For example:
- 彼女を雇いました。 = [Someone] hired her.
- 会社が雇いました。 = The company hired [someone].
If the listener already knows who is being talked about, Japanese often omits that information.
Why are there spaces between the words?
The spaces are usually just for learners.
Normal Japanese writing would be:
会社が彼女を雇いました。
Japanese normally does not use spaces between words the way English does.
Can a company really be the subject with が even though it is not a person?
Yes. In Japanese, the subject does not have to be a person.
Organizations, things, weather, and abstract ideas can all be marked with が if they are the subject of the sentence.
So 会社が is completely normal and means the company is the one performing the action.
What is the basic structure of this sentence?
The sentence breaks down like this:
- 会社 = company
- が = subject marker
- 彼女 = her
- を = object marker
- 雇いました = hired
So the pattern is:
subject + が + object + を + verb
That is a very common and useful Japanese sentence pattern.
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