The ULTIMATE Guide to Japanese Particles

Japanese particles are complicated. You see, particles are used to show what a word does in a sentence. For example, パンを食べる means eat bread, パンが食べる means the bread eats, and パンは食べる could swing either way. So, do not confuse the particles, and they will not confuse you. Stay tuned. First, let's start with the most important particle in Japanese, the が particle. The が particle has one function and one function only, that is, to mark the person or thing that is doing something or being something. We call this the subject of a sentence. For example, in the English sentences, The dog eats and Japan is beautiful, So in Japanese, we can say The things marked が are the subject. Just like in English, these are the things doing or being something. The second thing you must know about the subject is that it must logically exist in every sentence, regardless of whether you can see it or not. For example, in the English sentence, Despite us not saying I bought some bread, we understand that someone must have done the action, so the subject is still logically there. The same thing happens in Japanese, just far more frequently. For example, if I said That means is Tanaka But someone or something must be Tanaka. Therefore, there must be a logical subject somewhere. We can reveal this as the zero が. So in this sentence, it would be It is Tanaka, where it refers to whatever the context demands. Also, there is another が that works like What? But we don't have time in this video, so I'll drop a link in the description for this one. Next is the を particle. The を particle marks what an action is done to. In other words, the object of a sentence. For example, Read a book. The subject isn't mentioned, so we fill it in with zero が. It reads. And what does it read? 本を読む Reads the book. Similarly, Throw a ball. Cross the seas. Now, the function of を seems relatively easy, and it is, until you run into some questionable translations that tell you something like means I understand Japanese. Or means I like cats. This translation will cause confusion between the を and が particles, and therefore, I believe it's a poor translation for the purpose of learning. We can avoid this confusion by keeping the particles consistent and understanding that the things marked が are the subject. To learn more about these particular examples, please watch this video linked up here. Next is the は particle. The は particle lays the ground for what the core sentence is talking about. We call this the topic. For example, This often gets translated to This is a pen. But the problem here is that it creates confusion between what が and は are doing differently. This is the number one most asked question by learners, and the cause of this problem is this sort of translation. If we keep the particles consistent, we can see that this sentence is missing a が marked subject. In other words, As for this, It is a pen. But why even use a topic in the first place? Why not just say This is a pen? Well, because Japanese isn't English. I'll link a full explanation in the description, but what really matters is the mindset. If you can accept that other languages have their own natural ways of speaking, then you can just shrug and say, It is what it is. Now, the は particle is not the only topic marker, and it specifically implies an exclusive topic. Take, for example, if there was a table with bread, cake, and cookies, and I said, The bread. I'll eat that. Then, will I eat the cake and cookies? You don't know. I didn't say I would, nor did I say I wouldn't. But the fact that I specifically isolated out the bread implies that I'm not interested in eating the other two. One more important note is that particles sometimes get dropped. For the は particle in particular, dropping it can make it feel more spontaneous and casual, and also lessens its exclusivity. A famous example is, This ramen. It's delicious, huh? The fact that particles can quietly disappear like this is exactly why you need to immerse in content made for Japanese people. Otherwise, you get stuck speaking textbook Japanese. Quick tangent, but these videos take me months to research, write, and edit as I do the entire production line by myself. So if this video has been helpful to you so far, might I ask you to share the video as other learners may find this useful as well. Thanks! The opposite of the は particle is the も particle. If we took that same table from before and said, that would imply the bread is included among the other things. Hence, inclusive topic. The next particle is the に particle. It indicates where something is going, or where something is. For example, Now, if you are doing something more than just going somewhere or being somewhere, you have to instead use the で particle, which we'll cover later. Also, this sort of destination can also be called a target, which becomes more obvious in examples like these. Tanaka is the target of the throw, or the destination of where the ball will end up. By extension, we can also mark the destination or target of our intentions. So, We can also use に to mark the target of some sort of transformation. For example, The water turned into ice. Or I could say, Someone does the water to ice. Aside from physical and figurative destinations, the に particle can also mark the time destination. Or in other words, when something happens. For example, Note that these are absolute times, as opposed to relative times. Even in English, we say on Sunday at 6am and in August. But we don't say on tomorrow, or at yesterday, or in next week. Now, there is still more to talk about with に, but I don't want to bulk up this video. So, on screen now is a guide of what I haven't covered, and where to go to learn more. But I don't think you have to worry about these until you actually encounter them. Next is the で particle. The で particle is the boundary particle. For example, Play at the park. This sets the boundary around the park, limiting the action play to this area. Remember earlier I mentioned that に is only used when the action is about existing somewhere or going somewhere. Playing is more specific, so we must use で. This is why if you are at a bar, But if you drink at a bar, Now, this isn't necessarily hard, but it does take some time to get used to. So, I'd recommend taking some notes for future reference, or using the worksheet for this video We aren't done with the で particle yet though, as the boundary particle can do some other useful things. For example, Go to Tokyo by train. This draws a boundary around the tool that was used to complete the action. And it's not limited to transportation or literal tools, it can also be like Speak by means of Japanese. Finally, the boundary particle applies to more than just A does B sentences. For example, The most delicious ramen in the world. It may not be the most delicious ramen in our solar system, but it is the most delicious in our world. Similarly, As for the pool, People are what's filling the pool, not monkeys, not penguins, and not eldritch horrors. Next is the え particle. This is the direction or journey particle. It focuses more on the journey itself rather than the end destination. For example, When you arrive at Japan, you will see a sign saying 日本 is marked え because it's less about welcoming people to Japan, and more about welcoming the people's journey for Japan. You can also say Move towards the left direction. Or even Move towards the west direction. Or even Moving towards the 21st century. え also appears commonly with male. So Towards Tanaka or for Tanaka. And this is just a bit more gentle and polite than directly pointing to Tanaka with Next is the の particle. This marks possession or an apostrophe s. For example, Bag of mine. I own the bag or I possess the bag. Therefore, this is saying my bag. Wallet of Tanaka or Tanaka's wallet. And in a full sentence, you might see it used like 昨日 means yesterday. 宿題 means homework. So homework of yesterday or yesterday's homework. 量 means volume or amount. So the amount of yesterday's homework. The latter part isn't really relevant to this video. So altogether, yesterday's homework's amount. Isn't it way too much? Now, the の particle does have an important branch function called the nominalizing の. But we don't have time in this video. So I'll link it in the description instead. There are two different の particles. And the easier one which we'll cover first is the linking usage. For example, Eat bread and ice cream. We're not limited to just two items. And theoretically, you can go on for as long as you want like this. But as you can imagine, just like in English, that sentence just kind of sounds bad. Back to the main point. By extension, we can also use と to mean with. As in, Me and my little sister went to school. Or I went to school with my little sister. Now, you might see a bit of confusion here. Like, if パンとアイスを食べる is eat bread and ice cream, then wouldn't 妹とアイスを食べる mean eat sister and ice cream? Well, the honest solution is that you just have to use your brain. People do not usually eat their little sister. If they did mean to say that, first of all, you should report them to police. But second of all, it falls on them to make that clear. Now, back to the と particle. We can also use と to link something to an adjective. For example, As for the supermarket, it and the station are close. Or we can say, As for me, We can also use and in a way that shows consequence. For example, in English, we can say, The use of and here is like, if you do a, b will happen. And it's the same for Japanese. Or The next particle is や. The や particle is what I like to call the etc particle. For example, if I asked you, what's in the box? And you responded, You're saying there are pens, pencils, etc. The other things in the box are probably in the same category, like erasers or rulers or something. Just like the と particle, you are not limited to just listing out two things. But that kind of defeats the purpose of saying etc. Sometimes you may also see など at the end of the list. And など is a word also meaning etc. So, basically means pens, pencils, etc, etc. We sometimes say etc twice in English as well, so it's nothing special. Next is the quotation と. This is the more important of the two とs, as this is far more flexible. First, you're most likely going to encounter this in something like, Tanaka said, It's delicious. As for this, And let's say you saw a cool shirt, and you thought, That's cool. You thought, That's cool. Now, I mentioned that the quotation と is quite flexible. So let's take a look at some more usages. 雨が降る means rain does fall. But what's しとしと? Well, just like how 〇〇と言った is said 〇〇, しとしとと降る means fall しとしと. しとしと is just the sound effect of gentle drizzling rain. It's kind of like the English sentence, Drip, drip, the faucet leaked. Now, there's also the pattern とする, which means to do as something or to assume as something. For example, If do this as the kids' room, isn't it too close to the entrance? Now, moving forward, you have to understand that in Japanese, verbs can go directly in front of nouns to describe them just like adjectives. For example, 人 just means person. 歩く人 means a person who walks. 泳ぐ人 is a person who swims. And 言う人 is a person who says something or is called something. And when we add と, that's how we quote what was said or what they're called. So for example, 田中という人, a person who is called Tanaka. And よくありがとうという人は優しい. As for the type of people who frequently say thank you, they are kind. Finally, the と particle by itself or even the whole construction of と something can be abbreviated to just て. When you do this, you can unlock even more usages, but that's a lot to dig into, so we'll pass on that right now. The next particle is から, the starting point part. The first time you encounter it is probably something like アメリカから来た came from America or 11時から始まる start from 11 o'clock. We can also use it to mark the start point of some sort of result. In other words, the cause. For example, 暑いから眠れない. The effect is 眠れない, can't sleep. And the start point of this effect or the cause is 暑い, is hot. Because it is hot, I can't sleep. Or 今日は雨だから傘を持っていく. Because as for today is rain, umbrella bring go. So because it's raining today, I'm gonna have my umbrella as I go. And if you pay attention here, you will see だから. The だ is just the copula, and the から is the particle. This is where だから comes from. Next is the opposite of から, and that is まで. It marks the end point. So if I said 大阪に行った, this would just be went to Osaka. But if I said 大阪まで行った, this is saying went until Osaka and not any further. As for working hours, it is until 5 p.m. We can also use まで in a more figurative way, like 納豆まで食べれる? Can eat until natto? Natto is like the final boss of foods that foreigners don't eat. So if you're able to get to that point, then it's like, oh wow, you can get all the way here. You're at the end point of Japanese cuisine. Next, the か particle is mainly used to indicate questions similar to a question mark. For example, これはハトですか? As for this, is a pigeon? Or 一緒に飲みますか? Drink together? Notice how both of these end on ですか and ますか. That's because か tends to feel more formal. Saying 一緒に飲むか is possible, but you risk sounding rough, almost like a yakuza dragging you into a bar. So how would you ask a question casually then? Well, similarly to English, we can just pitch up the intonation. 一緒に飲む is a statement. 一緒に飲む is a question. Back to the か particle, this question marking function can be used in some ways that we don't typically think of as questions. For example, 田中さんが来るかどうかわからない。 Whether or not Tanaka will come is unclear. The first か marks Tanaka will come as a question, and the second か marks どう as a question. どう is just like a filler question word. So, Tanaka will come? What? Is unclear. It's like the English saying, I don't know if he'll come or what. This something something or what is essentially the same as whether or not. So we can safely treat the common pattern かどうか as meaning whether or not. You may also see か being used to list out options sometimes, like お茶かコーヒーどちらがいい? Tea? Coffee? Which is good. And you might think, wait hold on, where's the か after coffee to get the question mark? In modern Japanese, it is common to drop the か on the last option. So you can say お茶かコーヒーか. That's actually what's being said, but that's just not what's popular at the moment. Now, just because we finished all the particles in this video doesn't mean we finished all the particles in Japanese. But instead of diving into these ones, I think it's a good time to look at double particles like には, which you can learn about by watching this video next. またね!