No equivalent Japanese words - 1 - the - 2

In the last post I said "Chinese did not and do not have <the> either but they speak their language a lot with almost no problem." and "その（sono) is not an exact equivalent to <the> .....  There is one solution to this problem. This is the next story."

The Chinese solved this problem by using different words and/or word orders while the Japanese solved this problem by using 助詞（じじょし、jyo-shi) or "helping words" . It is generally better to use their own original method to express the meaning of <the> than by using somewhat strange direct word by word translation. This is a very important aspect of the languages including grammars.

1) The Chinese solved this problem by using different words and/or word orders.

Examples

 He walked up to me and asked me where the post office was.
   他走到我面前，问邮局在哪儿。
There used to be a post office there.
   以前在那里有一个邮局。

2) The Japanese solved this problem by using 助詞（じじょし、jyo-shi) or "helping words"

Is there a (or any) post office near here?
この近くに郵便局が(ga)ありますか。
Where is the nearest post office from here?
ここから一番近い郵便局は(ha)どこですか。

The differences between  が(ga) and は(ha) are sometime subtle but exist. You can say ＜この近くに郵便局は(ha)ありますか。＞ but you cannot say ＜ここから一番近い郵便局が(ga)どこですか。＞ as this post office is not a general one (a, any) but definite one - the nearest.

How subtle ? My answer is

＜この近くに郵便局が(ga)ありますか。＞ is a very general question while the question ＜この近くに郵便局は(ha)ありますか。＞ subtly differs in that

a) emphasizing the existence of a post  office - whether a post office exists or not.

b) in case some other thing or things have already been asked (like a police station, supermarket,etc) it is likely to use ＜この近くに郵便局は(ha)ありますか。＞ by emphasizing < a post office> this time.


sptt