Lesson 3: Basic Particles

In this lesson, I will teach six basic particles needed to form some basic sentences.

In Japanese, particles are words that follow a noun to mark the purpose of the noun in a sentence.

The first particle I will teach is the topic marker は. When the kana は is being used as a particle, it is pronounced as わ. When は follows a noun, it marks it as the topic, and normally the subject, of the sentence, so it's safe to presume that the noun は is following is also the subject unless it would make no sense for it to be the subject. In Japanese, a topic is not repeated if you do not need to repeat it to understand the sentence.

The second particle is the subject marker が. When it follows a noun, it marks the noun as the subject of the sentence. Since は and が are so similar, I'll list two of the major differences between them. が is used when something is introduced for the first time, and は is used when the thing has been introduced before. が can be used in a subordinate sentence, but は can't be used in one.

The next particle is the direct object marker を. Even though を is in the same column as わ, it is pronounce as お. When を follows a noun, it marks the noun as the direct object of the sentence.

The fourth particle, の, is a bit more complex than the ones we have learned so far. It allows a noun it's following to modify the next noun, or it allows the noun to possess the next noun. It has more uses, but I will discuss those uses in later lessons.

This next particle, に, is also a little complex since it has a lot of uses. It's used to mark the time of an event, to mark the place of action for a few verbs, and to mark a place you are heading to. It has more uses, but they require more grammar knowledge than we have covered to use.

We are now on the last particle for this lesson: へ. When the kana へ is used as a particle it is pronounced as え. へ, unlike the last two particles, is very easy because it has only one use: it marks a place you are heading to. に and へ are interchangeable when they are being used for this meaning.

I'll put up some example sentences in my next posts to help show the meaning of the particles.

John