Help With Particles

4 comments

1. learn them in context, they have no meaning outside that

   in general, transitive verbs use を

   and intransitive use が

   に is used a ton of different ways, including but not limited to the source or target of passive or causative tense verbs

   but overall, just give yourself time to absorb them. preferrably IN CONTEXT. that is, don’t try to memorize a particle, and don’t memorize verbs without also memorizing which particle goes with them. memorize verbs and how each uses particles together as a unit. read lots of sentences that use that verb, write sentences that use that verb

   they will eventually stick

2. Ok, so particles designate function. Words have meanings on their own, but to build a sentence we have to follow a structure. A sentence will have a subject a verb and an object always, so the verb is marked by the conjugation, verbs have specific endings and are easily identifiable. The subject and the object can be nouns or adjectives for example, so there isn’t a pattern that makes them instantly recognizable. That’s where particles come in. They mark these functions. This is the simplest form.
   A basic sentence would be:わたしはにほんごをべんきょうします。 I’m studying japanese.
   The は marks the topic (and in this case the subject) and the を marks the object.
   Now, a few examples of particles are:

   が- marks the subject of the sentence

   は- marks topic, it usually gives more relevance to what it’s referring to and if the subject and the topic are the same, it replacesが

   を- marks the direct object.

   に- this can mark a few things- indirect object, destination and place of a non-action (basically when you are somewhere but what you are doing isn’t an action. For example いる which means to be, it isn’t an action, so if you want to say I’m here you would use 私はここにいます)

   で- indicates the place of an action or the means by what you do something. For example: I work here- 私はここで働いています (working is an action) or I speak Japanese- 私は日本語で話します in these case japanese or any language is the means by which you communicate

   へ- indicates destination

   から- indicates starting point

   まで- indicates end point

   There are other particles, some of which I’m not remembering, but these are some basic ones. They all indicate the function of something in the sentence. Also, the particles always come after the word they refer to.

   For me, the best way to learn particles is learning it’s general function. I have a friend that tries to memorize by examples, but this generates confusion a lot of times.

3. が marks the subject of the sentence but it also informs you of things that weren’t already contextualized, and は emphasizes stuff that was already contextualized (if you don’t need to emphasize, you don’t need は and whatever word it is attached to, as it is already contextualized)

   [source](https://8020japanese.com/wa-vs-ga/)

4. If you need more detailed information, you can also check out this book: ***All About Particles***: A Handbook of Japanese Function Words by *Naoko Chino*.