I’m struggling with particle

5 comments

1. particles seem easy at first but I think if you get a bit further you find out they are not always that easy

   I think it would be hard to make a reddit post which answers everything about all these particles you mentioned “は、が、に、で、を”, that’s a lot to fit in. That post would become textbook-sized.

   Here are general observations I made so far:

   * It’s important to note if the verb in the sentence is intransitive or transitive. Particles such as が and を will work differently based on this.

   * It’s very important to note what form (conjugation) the verb is in. For instance, in passive form, the に particle works quite differently.

   * There are some common verbs like でる which are intransitive but still get the を particle. How does this even work? Well this explains it for でる [link](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/21313/why-does-%e5%87%ba%e3%82%8b-accept-%e3%82%92-although-it-is-an-intransitive-verb)

   * It is important to read a few articles on the difference between は and が. Google that and you will get plenty of info, or it’s posted about constantly on this sub if you search.

   * I found it was important to read a lot, it helped me get a good appreciation for particles.

2. Don’t listen to the other dude, if you are having problems with particles don’t give a single fuck about what verb is what for the moment

   Ha, Ga – Subject
   Ni, De – Place or instrument
   Wo – where the actions goes

   Just do basic ass sentences for a while and then you can worry about passives and shit.

3. I need to save this post cause seriously. I still struggle after taking Japanese 1 & 2

4. https://www.imabi.net/tableofcontents.htm

5. I’m afraid it’s not something you’re going to learn from a single reddit thread. There’s a lot of information on the web, so look to that as well. It can take years of practice to fully appreciate the subtleties of some of the particles. For the basic uses though…

   * **は** – marks the topic. A topic is something everyone knows, and it sets the context for a sentence or a conversation. E.g. さくら**は**… (“As for **Sakura**, well…”) We all know Sakura and は has set the context – we’re going to talk about Sakura. Sakura is the topic.
   * **が** – marks the subject of a sentence. It is the thing that is doing the verb of the sentence, or it is the thing that is described by the noun or adjective ending the sentence. It can be the same thing as marked by は, (in which case the が wont be explicitly written in the sentence) but it doesn’t have to be. E.g. さくらはカバン**が**きれいです (“As for Sakura, her **bag** is pretty”). The bag is the subject. Note that while a topic is *always* shared knowledge known beforehand, the subject may be new information – we know Sakura, but we don’t necessarily know she has a bag.
   * **に** – primarily, this marks a destination, or a place of existence. E.g. 私は公園**に**行きました (“As for me, I went **to** the park”). If you are already at the park, it can mark that as the place you exist in – e.g. 私は公園**に**いる (“As from me, I’m in the park”). You can think of に as a pin in a map marking a location. に is also used to mark absolute times in a sentence – e.g. 私は午後３時**に**公園に行きます (“As for me, I will go to the park **at** 3pm”). に does not mark relative times though – e.g. it wouldn’t mark 明日 (tomorrow). Basically, if the time requires ‘in’,’at’ or ‘on’ in the equivalent English sentence then you need to mark it with に.
   * **へ** – This is a simple one. It marks a direction. It can only ever be used to replace に when something or someone is moving towards somewhere. It differs from に in that it marks only a direction and not a location – e.g. 私は公園**へ**行っている (“As for me, I’m going **towards** the park”) – but the park may not be my actual destination (my actual に). Note: In practice, this subtle distinction is often ignored.
   * **で** – primarily this marks a place where an action occurs, the time at which an action occurs, or the means by which an action is carried out. It’s often confused with に. Basically, に marks a place, but as soon as an action occurs in a place then you need to use で. E.g. 私は公園**で**遊びました (“As for me, I played **in** the park”).
   * **を** – This particle marks the direct object of a verb – i.e. the object that a verb acts upon. This is only used for transitive verbs (a transitive verb is one that transfers it’s action to something else). E.g. 私はさくらにボール**を**投げた (“As for me, I threw a **ball** to Sakura”).

   These are the main particles that you need for very simple sentences. There is a lot more nuance about them though – and I haven’t described all the functions, just the basic ones.