EDIT: 'wo' and 'ga'?
 

Hello everyone. I am just beginning my Japanese Language studies and am using the Pimsleur system to get started. One question I have is the difference between the articles 'go' and 'ga'. Are there rules for when to use them, or is it a complicated issue?

There is no such particle "go" I can think of, at least none that would be taught to beginners. Should you be referring to the difference between "ha" and "ga", this is something you will have to learn over time and I think there are better things to worry about as a beginner than to get "ha" and "ga" perfectly correct.

1. They're "particles," not "articles."
2. blutorange got it correct by saying there's no particle ご (as far as I've learned in nearly a decade).

I wonder if you are confused with the formal ご.

Ooops, I blew it. I meant to ask about "O" and "Ga". They come at the end of a noun sometimes.

I'm literally just starting so please forgive the simplistic level of my question.

を and が are very different. One marks the direct object of a verb, and only ever does this. It has no other function at all, ever.

が marks the subject of a sentence (and does other things, too, but it never marks a direct object). (many coming from a European-language background will confuse this with は, the topic marker).

In the sentence "I ate the apple," "I" is the subject and "apple" is the direct object.

Hopefully this illustrates, briefly, how different the two are.

There is zero overlap between が and を.

I'm afraid I don't think so.
How about;　"I like bananas."
私はバナナが好きです　？？

Where is the overlap? You cannot say 私はバナナを好きです, but if you mean 好き is an exception to the rule in English, then yes, that is true.

There's no overlap, and here the sentence is, quite literally, "[As for me,] bananas are liked." バナナ is the subject of the sentence, not a direct object, in this Japanese sentence.

Really? Is it true?
To be honest with you, I hated Japanese grammar in my school days, so it is a brand new thing to me. I've learned something new. Thanks.

But I still think it is just 詭弁.

For example,
（私は）君を好きだ。　（I love you.)
(私は）君が好きだ。　（I love you.) In your logic, [As for me] you are loved.
Right?

Then, if a beginner learner of Japanese see "君が好き", then he/she have to think that it is "You are loved." not "You love".

I think the two rule are the same thing. It is just a matter of superficial rule.
Rule 1) As I thought, が is sometimes used for the direct object maker.
So you have to judge if it is a subject maker or object maker, according to the context.
Rule 2) As you said, が　is always the subject maker. But one important thing is the verb sometimes becomes "passive voice" without any change of the verb itself. You have to judge according to the context.

Even which to choose, the matter is not so simple for beginners.
Don't you think so?

Choosing Rule 2), we can make the overlap zero, in a certain point of view.
But the true meaning is different. バナナ is the object in a true sense, and 私 is the subject in a true sense.
I think there IS overlap, in another point of view.