Particle は

  

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I think that one of the most common questions that might come to your mind in regards to the "Wa" particle is... WHY IS IT WRITTEN AS HA, BUT PRONOUNCED AS WA?!!!!

All of it has to do with history :)
The sound of the character は has changed over time. For example:
In ancient Japan, は sounded more like "fa"
Around the 9th century, は sounded more like "wa"

And actually if you read Japanese texts written before the 20th century, then you will see quite a few words written with は but that were pronounced as "wa". For example:

庭　にわ used to be には "niwa"
沢　さわ used to be さは "sawa"
岩　いわ used to be いは "iwa"

However, after World war II, the spelling rules were fixed in a way that:

All the words where は was pronounced as "wa", had to be changed to わ except for the particles. 

Other two examples where we see this is the the words:

こんにちは - Konnichiwa

こんばんは - Konbanwa

That is because in this two words, the ending "は" was originally a particle.

Now let's get to some grammar!

The following three cases are the main situations where the particle wa is used:

1. The particle "Wa" is considered a Topic marker. In English it can be translated something like "in regards to"of "as for". 

For example:

明日は金曜日です 

Ashita wa kinyoubi desu

 In regards to tomorrow, it is Friday

今日は雨です

kyou wa ame desu

In regards to today, it is rainy

The particle "Wa" focuses on the topic. That is in what comes AFTER the particle. That is why when we do a self-presentation we use the particle wa:

私は日本人です = 

watashi wa nihonjin desu

I'm Japanese

Let's just quickly remember that the particle "Ga" emphasizes on what comes BEFORE the particle.


2. The particle "Wa" is used with adjectives. Let's remember that the particle ga is used with adjectives when we are describing a person. However, the particle Wa is used with adjectives when we are describing something universal.

For example, if we want to say "The snow is white" (something widely known) we say:
雪は白いです＝
yuki wa shiroi desu 

3. The particle "Wa" is used to show contrast. In this case, it would replace the particles "ga" or "wo" and do the contrast.

For example, if we are going to say "I like bananas", we would say:

バナナが好きです = (use particle ga with the verb to like)

banana ga suki desu

HOWEVER, if we want to say, "I like bananas, but I don't like apples" we can say:

バナナは好きですが、りんごはきらいです。

Another example, if we want to say "I drink water", we would say:

水を飲みます

mizu o nomimasu

HOWEVER, if we want to say, "I drink water, but I don't drink coffee" we can say:

水は飲みます。でもコーヒーは飲みません。

mizu wa nomimasu. Demo koohii wa nomimasen