Like this:

Well, they have appaeared in pretty much everytime Japanese has appeared. Therefore it is time you got an understanding of what particles really are.

Particles cannot be translated to anything. Therefore, if you thought that, unthink it. They can’t. Particles are like the structure of the sentence. They are what give the setnece it’s meaning. You can have two similar sentences but with a change of particle and they will mean different things.  Therefore, I’m going to go through some basic particles and give you an idea of what to look out for when you are reading Japanese.

The particle は：

Although this reads as “ha”, you will actually pronounce this “wa”. Only for particles (and at the end of こんにちは　And　こばんは）.  The job of this particle is to point out the main topic of this sentence. The particle comes after the subject it is referring to, but it signifies that information on the subject is to follow after the は. Take this very basic example:

わたしは　グレッグ　です。 (I am Greg).

In this sentence わたし is the subject of the sentence which the particle highlights by coming after it, then the particle emphasizes that information after it will be in relation to the subject. Here is another example:

グレッグさんは　スコトランドじん　です。 (Greg is Scottish).

As before, は shows that, Greg is the subject and that more information about Greg will follow after the particle.

The particle が

The particle が is similar to は in which that, it highlights the subject by coming after it and which that information about the subject follows after the particle also. However, the emphasis changes with が. Unlike はwhere the emphasis was based around giving information on the subject. The particle が puts the emphasis on the subject, stating that it is important to know the subject is connected to the information which follows after the particle. Not understand? Here is an example: *This conversation takes place in a crowded room*

- グレッグさんは　だれ　ですか？　(Who is Greg?)

- わたしが　グレッグ　です。　(I am Greg)

As you can see, the person asking “who is Greg?” already knows there is someone in the room called Greg. Therefore, using  は would be pointless as that would put the emphasis on the Greg and not the I. Which is why we use が when we want to highlight the subject in particular.

The particle か

A very simple particle. If you see this particle at the end of a sentence. Then that sentence is a question. Someone is asking you something. This can be backed up by numerous examples:

それは　ほん　ですか？

あなたは　トム　ですか？

これは　なん　ですか？

だれ　ですか？

ここは　どこ　ですか？

I decided not translate these, you guys can have fun doing that yourself. The last two are to spice things up a bit. I’m thinking I might have covered だれ a little, I’m not sure. However, I know I haven’t covered どこ so don’t worry, I will go over this in the future.

The particle の

This particle is quite possibly my favourite, not to mention it is quite useful. It’s purpose is to signify possesstion, or more simply put something belongs to something. In regards to using this particle with people it is pretty much the same as using “…’s” in English. Here are a few examples of how it is used:

やまださんの　おっかさん　(Ms. Yamada’s mother)

マイクさんの　ほん　です　(Mike’s book)

However, not always does の signify people’s possesstion. Sometimes in general it means “something belongs to something”. I’m reading what I just wrote to myself and it pretty much means the same thing. It’s isn’t easy to explain the difference, therefore you will have to see the example to understand, so here they are:

にほんごの　ほん　です　(A Japanese book)

にほんごの　がくせい　です　(A student of the Japanese language)

にほんじんの　がくせい　です　(A japanese student)

アメリカの　だいがく　です (A university in America)

アメリカの　くるま　です (An American car)

Do you see what I mean? The の no particle can show that a car was made in America, or that a student came from a certain country. Not always a person and their possesstion of objects. Also, you can have more than one noun being modified by the の particle. Example:

にほんの　だいがくの　すうがくの　がくせい　です　(A student of mathematics at a university in Japan)

Remember: The ultimate noun being modified (in this case gakusei – from the last sentence)must be placed at the end of a sentence, don’t be mislead by English word order.

The particle も

This is also a basic particle and easy to understand. Basically, if some state or action is said to apply to a latter item, then the latter item is marked with も. Example:

- トムさんは　がくせい　です

- スミスさんも　はくせい　です

These are all the particles I ‘think’ we have covered so far. I hope you have a better understanding of particles now. Don’t be discouraged by them. Particles will pop up all the time. Therefore from now on, anytime a new particle appears I will add a seperate particle section within that post dedicated to explaining it.

Until next time!

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