I could have sworn the expression was お金がない but a bunpro review just now had me use “は” as the correct answer… is there some nuance I don’t get?
depends on context, but お金がない to me means “(I / Somebody) don’t have money” and お金はない means “there is no money”
I think having a link to the grammar point that sentence was about would help. It doesn’t appear to be は - Japanese Grammar Explained | Bunpro?
I came across this example in N5 lessen 2 う-verb negative. The example says お金はない and translates to I don’t have money. I thought it should have been お金がない if it translates to that.
I know it’s been a while but I hope someone could enlighten me ^^
Both are correct, but correct/natural-sounding usage depends on the context.
For stating the idea “(I / Somebody) don’t have money”, お金がない is correct in the sense that the part “私(に)は” is being omitted, with “私にはお金がない” literally meaning “As for me, I don’t have money”.
In the example “時間はあるけど、お金はない”, however, は indicates the contrast between the fact that I have time, but no money, therefore you can translate it as “I have time, but I don’t have money”, literally “When it comes to time, (I) have it, but when it comes to money, (I) don’t have it”.
Knowing how to correctly use は and が can be very confusing, even for advanced learners of Japanese, especially for those whose native language doesn’t clearly differentiate between topic and subject through grammatical means, e.g. English or German.
Thank you! It makes much more sense now.