Why is it 私は学生です and not 私が学生です??

Question

I keep seeing both は and が in my textbook and nobody explains WHY one over the other. My teacher just says "は is topic, が is subject" but that means nothing to me lol

Accepted Answer

Think of は as "speaking of ___" and が as pointing at something specific. 私は学生です = "as for me, (I am) a student" — you're introducing yourself as the topic. が would sound like you're answering "who is the student?" (私が学生です = "I'M the student, not him")

Answer

this took me MONTHS to get. the が one clicked for me when I learned it's used for new information / identifying something. は is old/known info

Answer

ok the "who is the student" example actually made it click, thank you!!