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”
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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.
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Thank you! It makes much more sense now.
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