Japanese/Grammar/Basic Particles
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- Particles quiz at the Toyama International Student Center Self Japanese Learning Support Site.
The Japanese language uses postposition particles (助詞; じょし, joshi) to denote the direction of an action and who is performing the action. They consistently come after the word that they modify.
There are three particles used very frequently in the language: は ha, を wo and が ga.
は ha (pronounced wa when used as a particle) is the Topic Marker and denotes the topic of discussion. を wo (pronounced o) is the Direct Object marker and marks the recipient of an action. が ga is the Subject marker and marks a noun that performs an action.
[edit] は wa and が ga, the Noun Markers
は wa (は 'ha' is pronounced 'wa' when used as a particle) and が ga cause much confusion among beginners, but their relationship can be summed up by replacing は with the phrase "on the topic of" to distinguish it from が. Note that the expressions "regarding the", "on the topic of" and "as for the" are not very common in English, and so are not often used in English translations of Japanese. We use these expressions here in this lesson only to better show the main difference between は and が.
Example:
「ねこが たべて います。」 (Neko ga tabete imasu.) translates literally as "The cat is eating." or "A cat is eating."
「ねこは たべて います。」 (Neko wa tabete imasu.) translates as "Regarding the cat, (it) is eating."
は is generally more flexible, because the "it" can be assumed, and is therefore recommended to novices who have not grasped the difference between the two.
Nevertheless, use of は is similar to changing the topic in a conversation.
Another way to look at this is が introduces a new subject, and は can be used to refer to something previously mentioned (somewhat like "the" in English).
Example:
「ねこが います。」 (Neko ga imasu.) translates as "There is a cat."
「ねこは たべて います。」 (Neko wa tabete imasu.) "Regarding the cat (that was mentioned before), (it) is eating."
So, when が is used, the thing in front of it is being emphasized, and when は is used, the emphasis is on what follows it.
は also has the specialized function of being used for comparisons as well.
Example:
「ねこが います。」 (Neko ga imasu.) translates as "There is a cat."
「いぬが います。」 (Inu ga imasu.) "There is a dog."
「ねこは たべて います けど, いぬは たべて いません。」(Neko wa tabete imasu kedo, Inu wa tabete imasen.) "The cat is eating, but the dog is not." or you can think of this as "As for the cat it is eating, but as for the dog, it is not."
The difference can also be displayed by using both subject and topic markers in one sentence:
「わたしは あなたが すき です。」 (Watashi wa anata ga suki desu.) means "I like you", or literally "as for me, like you."
「わたしは わさびが きらい です。」 (Watashi wa wasabi ga kirai desu.) means "I dislike/hate wasabi" or "As for me, hate wasabi."
「あなたは えいごが じょうず です。」 (Anata wa eigo ga jouzu desu.) translates "Your English is good!" or "As for you, English good!"
One has to be careful using both wa and ga in one sentence. If a verb is actually acting on the (direct) subject, usually a different particle (like を, wo) has to be used.
[edit] を (wo), the Direct Object Marker
を (wo) marks the direct object of a verb: the target of an action. Note that sometimes を is romanized as just o, because of its pronunciation, but its etymology places it at the wo position (and this differentiates it from the vowel o).
In English, the sentence follows the form:
Subject > Verb > Direct Object
However, in Japanese, as long as the verb of the clause comes at the end, subject and direct object need not be in any particular order:
Subject > Direct Object > Verb Direct Object > Subject > Verb
And as such, the を particle can only go before the verb, except in cases where an adverb would be put in between the verb and the particle.
Example:
「ねこ が みず を のんで います。」 (Neko ga mizu wo nonde imasu.) translates as "The cat is drinking water."
「だんだん まいにち、 ふらんすごを もっと じょうず に はなせます。」 (Dandan mainichi, furansugo wo motto jouzu ni hanasemasu.) Gradually, everyday, I can speak French better.
As with much of the language, parts of a sentence that can be assumed from context are often omitted. The を particle is frequently dropped in conversational (colloquial) Japanese.
