助詞の力！ (particle power!)

は – The topic marker 1) Marks the topic of the sentence. The topic can be the same as the subject, but not necessarily. The topic is what you are talking about. It is similar to the English expressions, “As for ~” or “Speaking of ~.” When は is used, the topic has often already been introduced or is understood. Once established, the topic can be dropped from the sentence. This is why it is so rare in Japanese to have 私 or あな た in a sentence. When you get a new topic, another は pops up. – 先生はバカです。 Talking about the sensei, she’s a baka. – 数学はむずかしいです。 Talking about math, it’s hard 2) Allows contrast. The contrast isn’t always explicit, but is implied by the use of は. は can also be used after に, で, and と to show contrast. – ソーダは飲むが、水は飲まない。 I drink juice, but not milk. – 日本には行きたいが、中国にはあまり行きたくない。 – I want to go to Japan, but not really to China. – ここではタバコをすわないでください。 – Please don’t smoke here (but you can smoke elsewhere)

が v. は 1) In a statement using は, the second part (post は ) is the most important. With が, the part marked by が is the most important, and is given emphasis. This is because が marks its word as the subject of the sentence. The subject of the sentence is the person/thing/etc that is doing the action or existing. This line is blurrier in Japanese than English. – ジャズミンはお金をとった。 Speaking of Jazmin, she took the money. – ジャズミンがお金をとった。 Jazmin is the one who took the money. 2) When a question word such as だれ and なに is the subject of a sentence, it is always followed by が, never by は. To answer the question, it also has to be followed by が. – だれが来ると思う？ Who do you think is coming? – エミが来るんだ。 Emi is coming. – どうして笑っている？何がおもしろい？ – Why you laughing? What’s so funny? – あなたの顔がおもしろい！ – Your face is funny.

が – I feel very strongly about this subject marker. 3) Specific words will only work with が instead of を. Usually these are words with strong emotions or ties: – すき / きらい, とくい / にがて, じょうず / へた, ある / いる, わ かる, できる, みえる, きこえる, ほしい and こわい are the most common ones. – 希望がある。 We have hope! – 日本語がわかる。 I understand Japanese. 4) Subordinate clauses. If the sentence has both a topic and a subject (or more than one subject), then が marks the subject in the subordinate clause. – 私はアベンジャーズがかっこいいとおもう。 – I (sub1) think that the Avengers (sub2) are cool. – アベンジャーズはかっこいいとおもう。 – As for the Avengers, I think they’re cool.

And yet another が 5) But. (just one t). If でも comes after a period, and can start a sentence, が, placed at the end of a phrase in the middle of a long sentence, serves the same function. – キャプテンアメリカはハンサムだと思うが、 バットマンはお金持ちだから、だれと結婚し たほうがいい？ – Captain America is handsome, but Batman is rich, so who should I marry?? – 宿題があるが、インスタグラムをしたい！ – I have homework, but I want to do Instagram!

を – The direct-object marker 1) Marks the direct object. What is the verb verbing? Marked by an を. – あ！ドナルド・トランプを見ちゃった！ Ah! I totally saw Trump! – トイレの水を飲んだ。 I drank toilet water. – ワイドスクリーンテレビを買った。 I bought a widescreen TV. 2) を has a special relationship with する. If you do a job, it is your occupation. If you do a game, you are playing it. For words like 買い物をする, 料理をする or タイプをする the を is dropped when the whole phrase takes its own direct object. – 父は大統領をしている。 My dad is a the President. – ジェレミーはマリオカートをする。 Jeremy plays Mario Kart. – グロップを料理した。 I cooked glop.

の – It’s all about relationship baby 1) Possession. Used just like an apostrophe “s” (’s). の shows the relation between two things, and in this case that relation is possession. – これは私の心。 This is my heart. – 私の姉は東京にすんでいる。 My sister lives in Tokyo. – あれは私の（車）。 That is mine (my car). (What follows の can be dropped if made obvious by the conversation.) 2) Indicates position or location. Here, though not direct possession, の is showing the physical relation between two things. – つくえの上 on /above the desk; いすの下 under/below the chair; 学校のとなり next to the school; 車の前 in front of the car; 私のうしろ behind me.

の – It’s all about relationship baby 3) Noun modification. This is still showing the relation between two things. The noun before の modifies the noun after. – 日本語のクラスは苦しい。 Japanese class is painful. (Class of Japanese) – 天文学の本がある。 I have an astronomy book. (Book of astronomy) There can be a long string of の s in a sentence, all tracing the relationship back to the first. – 友達のガールフレンドのお母さんの猫はセーターにご飯を吐き出した。。 My friend’s girlfriend’s mother’s cat threw up dinner on my sweater. – アメリカの州の名前 The names of the states of America. 4) Apposition: still showing the relation between two things, this time between two noun- descriptors that both reference the same thing. – こちらは旦那のキャプテンアメリカ。 This is my husband, Captain America. – 宇宙飛行士のシェリエイさんは自分らしい – The Astronaut, Mr. Cherrier, is always himself. – あの八十歳のおばあさんは猫が多いねえ。 – That 80-year-old lady is has a lot of cats.

の – It’s all about relationship baby 5) Nounification w/ relationship. Add の to particles to make a clause with some direction. – へ：サンタへの手紙 Letter to Santa… – で：スターク・トニーの家でのパーティー The party at Tony Stark’s house... – と：母の父との出会い …My mom’s first meeting with my dad… 6) Turns phrases into nouns. の added to a phrase turns it into a clause that can be used as a noun, thus turning the whole thing into a subject, topic, or object etc. – 大変！犬を食べるのを忘れた。 – Crap, I forgot to eat the dog! ( こと can also be used) – 友達と一緒にバスケをするのが私の趣味だ。 – Playing basketball with my friends is my hobby. ７ ) ”The One” stands in for a noun when it has already been established (see a pattern?) – あなたのそのシャツ、私は赤いのがある。 That shirt you have, I have a red one. – 今度、怖いのを見たい。 This time I want to see a scary one!

と – Together forever 1) Connects two nouns/pronouns ONLY. Means “and.” – クリングオン語とエルフ語を話す。 I speak Klingon and Elvish. – くつとくつしたを食べた。 I ate shoes and socks. 2) Accompaniment, meaning “together” or “with.” – ジヨンはリンジーさんと友達といっしょに映画を作った。 – Jiyoung made a movie with Lindsey and friends – ケンは来週エミと結婚する。 Ken is getting married to Emi next week 3) Quotation. Used after a quote in sentences ending with 言う, 思う, and 聞く (among others) to introduce a clause or phrase. – 「宿題を本当に出しますから、殺さないでください！！」と言っ た。 – “Honestly, I’ll turn in my homework, so please don’t kill me!” I said. – キャプテンアメリカはハンサムだと先生は思う。 – Sensei thinks Batman is handsome. 4) と has several more uses, including Conditional, quoting onomatopoeia, and showing change, but we will not get into those here.

に – Who to? Where are you? 1) Indirect object marker. Usually comes before a direct object (marked by を ) Similar to “to.” – よく友達に手紙を書きます。 I often write letters to my friends – 先生は私に本をくれました。 The teacher gave me a book 2) Some verbs take an indirect object in Japanese, even though they don’t in English. Examples include 会います and 聞きます among others. – 学校で友達に会いました。 I met a friend at school. – しつもんがあったら、先生に聞いてください。 If you have a question, ask the teacher. 3) Location of Existence. に is used with います, あります, and す みます. It translates to “at” or “in.” – いすの上に猫がいます。 There is a cat on top of the chair. – ちちはニューヨークにすんでいます。 My father lives in New York. – 本はかばんの中にあります。 The book is in my bag.

に – Where to? When doin’? 4) Direction. に can be translated as “to” when indicating a destination. – あした、日本に行きます！ Tomorrow I will go to Japan! – きのう、学校に来ませんでした。 Yesterday, I did not come to school. 5) Direct Contact. に is used when a motion or action is directed at or onto a place or object. (Jessika-san’s “Take a kni”) – ここに名前を書いてください。 Write your name here please. – ケンはテーブルの上にすわりました。 Ken sat on the table. 6) Specific time. に is used with various time expressions (year, month, day, and clock time) to indicate a specific point in time. It translates to “at” “in” or “on”. General time words, such as きょう, きのう, あした, and まえ etc. do not use any particle. – 学校は七時三十分にはじまります。 School starts at 7:30. – 五月三日にうまれました。 I was born on May 3rd. 7) に has several other uses, including marking purpose, showing the source of an action in a passive sentence, and in phrases such as “per hour” or “per day”. Saving those for later now.

へ - Towards! 1) Destination. Like に, へ is used to mark a destination when moving toward a place. In fact, grammatically speaking, へ can almost always be replaced by a に, while the other way around is not true. However, へ often sounds more natural. へ can be thought of as “towards” rather than “to,” with the destination filling a larger and more vague area. – うちへかえる。 I’m heading for home. – うちにかえる。 I’m returning to my home. 2) Refer to の note number 5. に cannot be pared with no to make noun-clauses, but へ can. So in some cases, あｍ will take over for に when の is involved, even though it could not stand in the sentence by itself. Specifically, this happens for case 1 and 4 listed in に. – ともだちへの手紙 A letter to a friend. – 両親への深い信用 Deep trust/belief in one’s parents

で – Where’s the action at? How’d’ya do that? 1) Place of Action. It indicates the place where an action takes place. It translates into "in", "at", "on", and so on – そとであそんだ。 I played outside. – うみでおよいだ。 I swam in the ocean. 2) Means. It indicates means, method, or instruments. It translates to "by," "with", "in" "by means of", etc. – バスで学校に行く。 I go to school by bus. – 日本語で話してください。 Please speak in Japanese. 3) Totalizing. で is placed after a quantity, time, or amount of money, and indicates an extent. – 三人でこれをつくった。 The three of us made this together. – ぜんぶで千円です。 That’ll be 1000 yen all together.

で – what’s the limit? 4) Scope. Gives the following sentence a zone of influence. It translates into “in,” “among,” or “within,” etc. – これは世界で一番大きいです。 This is the biggest in the world. – 日本でどこに行きたいですか。 Where do you want to go in Japan? – 本で、エヴァディーン・カットニスはせが高くなかった。 In the book, Katniss Everdeen was not tall. – 映画で、カークのおとうさんはなくなった。 In the movie, Kirk’s father died. 5) Time Limit. It indicates time consumed for a certain action or occurrence. It translates to “in” or “within.” – 一時間で行ける。 I can get there in an hour. – 一週間でできる。 I can do it in a week. 6) Material. It indicates the composition of an object. – この茶は麦で作った。 This tea is made from wheat. – これはやさいで作ったハンバーガーです。 This is a hamburger made from vegetables. 7) Has still more uses, including showing required cost and marking cause, but we will leave those for now.