Translation guide
The English word "subject" has many distinct meanings. This guide helps learners choose the right Japanese expression depending on whether they mean a topic, a school subject, a grammatical subject, a test subject, or a person under authority.
The thing you are talking or writing about.
General word for a topic of conversation or discussion.
What is the subject of the meeting?
Often used for the theme of an essay, presentation, or artistic work.
The subject of this paper is environmental issues.
Main subject or motif, often used in literary or artistic contexts.
The subject of this novel is love and loss.
An area of knowledge studied in school or university.
Standard word for a school subject or course.
What is your favorite subject?
Refers to a subject in the curriculum, often used in educational contexts.
Can mean a department or course of study, sometimes interchangeable with 科目.
The noun or pronoun that performs the action in a sentence.
The grammatical term for the subject of a sentence.
What is the subject of this sentence?
A person who is under the control of a ruler or government.
A person or animal used in an experiment or study.
The material or content of a book, film, etc.
主語 (shugo) only means grammatical subject. To say 'the subject of the conversation', use 話題 (wadai) or テーマ (teema).
科目 (kamoku) is the most common for a school subject. 教科 (kyouka) is often used in official curriculum contexts. 学科 (gakka) can mean a department or a field of study, and is less common for a single subject.
A new subject has been added.
He is majoring in a science subject.
政府は国民の安全を守る責任がある。
The government has a duty to protect its subjects.
He was used as a subject for the new drug.
この小説の題材は戦争です。
The subject matter of this novel is war.