Let’s learn Japanese essential particles part 1

You may feel difficulty when learning Japanese particles because there are many particles and one particle has many meanings.

It’s understandable. I have been learning English over 20 years, but I am still struggling to use prepositions.

In this article, I will teach you very basic Japanese particles (は、が、を、へ、に、と、で、から、まで).

There are many Japanese particles, but I chose these 9 particles for now.

I will explain は, が, を, に, へ in this article and と, で, から, まで in a second article.

Each particles have many meanings, but I will teach only the principal ones.

Particles are huge topics, but when you finish reading this article, you will acquire the essential knowledge of particles, so please read this article to the end.

は

Let’s see the two rules to using は.

I will explain the details.

For more information, read this article.

What’s the difference between Japanese は and が?

Topic

は mentions the topic which you are talking about.

For example, きょうは　雨です, which means it will rain today.

You are talking about today’s weather, so you say きょうは　雨です.

Comparing

When we compare two things, we use は.

For instance, 山はすきですが、うみはすきじゃありません, which means I like mountains, but I don’t like sea.

This sentence compares mountains and seas.

Therefore, we use は.

Again, I explain in more detail in this article.

Please read this article too.

What’s the difference between Japanese は and が?

が

I picked two rules for が.

Let’s see each rule.

New information

There is a very famous old Japanese story, called Peach Boy.

The begging of the story goess…

In the first sentence, we have no idea who the old man and woman are, but we know who they are in the second sentence.

That’s why we use が in the first sentence and は in the second sentence.

Exclusive

When you say AがB, it means A is the one.

が excludes others.

For example, if someone says わたしがリーダーです, it means I am a leader and others are not.

On the other hand, if someone says わたしはリーダーです, he (or she) just mentions his (or her) position.

More information in this article.

What’s the difference between Japanese は and が?

を

I pick two basic rules for を.

Let’s see the details.

Object

This is very essential.

を is a part of the object.

Object means a noun or a pronoun that is acted upon by a verb.

Let’s see some examples.

In this case, ramen is an object, which is affected by a verb (ate).

Thus, we say ラーメンをたべました。

Let’s see another example,

In this sentence, a present is a noun which acted upon by a verb (gave).

Therefore, we say プレゼントを　あげました。

However, this is different from English.

In English, there are two objects in this sentence, which are “present” and “friend”.

“Friend” is thought of as an indirect object, which means the recipient of an action.

We use に for indirect objects.

Moving

When something moves to somewhere, we use を.

Let’s see two examples.

I walk in a park means I move in a park.

Like this, を connects a place where you are moving.

Let’s see another example.

You know, birds are moving in the sky.

They are flying somewhere, so we say とりが　空を　とんでいます。

You may know place＋で.

I will explain the difference between を and で in the next article.

4 Essential Japanese particles -と、で、から、まで-

に

I chose three very basic rules.

These are supposed to appear in beginner textbooks, so they are essential.

Let’s learn the roles of に.

Time

Time＋に＋V

This is very very very basic role of に.

What’s the difference between にちようびに…いきました and にちようびは…いきました?

If someone asked you when you went to a restaurant, you would say にちようびに…いきました because you are answering the day that you went.

On the other hand, if you are talking about what you did on Sunday, you would say にちようびは…いきました because にちようび is the topic of your conversation.

Existence

Place＋に＋nountが＋あります/います

あります and います are used to mention existence.

Please read this article for more information.

Japanese aru vs iru, what’s the difference?

To who

Let’s see some examples.

へ

I teach you one way to use へ, which is a direction.

For instance,

In this case, I focus on the direction rather than the place.

You can switch へ to に, but に focuses on the destination rather than the direction.

To know the difference, let’s see another example.

In this case, the direction (to Japan) is more important than the destination and we don’t know where the typhoon will arrive precisely.

Therefore, both に and へ work, but using へ is more accurate.

Conclusion

These particles are called かくじょし and these are essential knowledge for speaking Japanese.

If you use the correct particles, we don’t care about the grammatical order.

However, when you use the wrong particles, it will lead to miscommunication.

That’s why please practice particles in this article and the next article.

I’ll teach you で, と, から and まで next time.

Exercise.

①　わたしは　せんせい（　）にほんご（　）ならいます。

②　きょう（　）うみ（　）いきます。

③　あの　どうろ（　）わたりましょう。

④　あの　こうえん（　）コヨーテが　います。

⑤　いつも　10じ（　）ねます。

⑥　もう　ごはん（　）たべましたか。

⑦　Q. だれが　ケーキを　たべましたか。

　　A. わたし（　）たべました。

⑧　げつようび（　）日本（　）いきます。

⑨　わたしは　あなた（　）ケーキ（　）つくりました。

⑩　10月10日（　）こうえんで　イベントが　あります。

Answer

①　わたしは　せんせい（に）にほんご（を）ならいます。

②　きょう（は）うみ（へ/に）いきます。

③　あの　どうろ（を）わたりましょう。

④　あの　こうえん（に）コヨーテが　います。

⑤　いつも　10じ（に）ねます。

⑥　もう　ごはん（を）たべましたか。

⑦　Q. だれが　ケーキを　たべましたか。

　　A. わたし（が）たべました。

⑧　げつようび（に）日本（へ/に）いきます。

⑨　わたしは　あなた（に）ケーキ（を）つくりました。

⑩　10月10日（に）こうえんで　イベントが　あります。

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