Japanese particles
Particles in Japanese
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Orthography and diction
Japanese particles are written in hiragana in modern Japanese, though some of them also have kanji forms: (弖 or 天 for te て; 爾 for ni に; 乎 or 遠 for o を; and 波 for wa は). Particles follow the same rules of phonetic transcription as all Japanese words, with the exception of は (written ha, pronounced wa as a particle), へ (written he, pronounced e) and を (written using a hiragana character with no other use in modern Japanese, originally assigned as wo, now usually pronounced o, though some speakers render it as wo). These exceptions are a relic of historical kana usage.
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Types of particles
There are eight types of particles, depending on what function they serve.
Case markers (格助詞, kakujoshi)
が,
ga,
の,
no,
を,
o,
に,
ni,
へ,
e,
と,
to,
で,
de,
から,
kara,
より
yori
Parallel markers (並立助詞, heiritsu-joshi)
か,
ka,
の,
no,
や,
ya,
に,
ni,
と,
to,
やら,
yara,
なり,
nari,
だの
dano
Sentence ending particles (終助詞, shūjoshi)
か,
ka,
の,
no,
や,
ya,
な,
na,
わ,
wa,
とも,
tomo,
かしら
kashira
Interjectory particles (間投助詞, kantō-joshi)
さ,
sa,
よ,
yo,
ね
ne
Adverbial particles (副助詞, fukujoshi)
ばかり,
bakari,
まで,
made,
だけ,
dake,
ほど,
hodo,
くらい,
kurai,
など,
nado,
なり,
nari,
やら
yara
Binding particles (係助詞, kakarijoshi, keijoshi)
は,
wa,
も,
mo,
こそ,
koso,
でも,
demo,
しか,
shika,
さえ,
sae,
だに
dani
Conjunctive particles (接続助詞, setsuzoku-joshi)
ば,
ba,
や,
ya,
が,
ga,
て,
te,
のに,
noni,
ので,
node,
から,
kara,
ところが,
tokoroga,
けれども,
keredomo,
くせに
kuseni
Phrasal particles (準体助詞, juntai-joshi)
の,
no,
から
kara
Note that some particles appear in two types. For example, kara is called a "case marker" where it describes where something is from or what happens after something; when it describes a cause it is called a "conjunctive particle".
List of particles
Index
- bakari
- bakari ka
- bakashi
- dake
- da no
- de
- de mo
- dokoro ka
- e
- ga
- hodo
- ka
- kai
- ka na
- kara
- ka shira
- kedo
- kiri
- kke
- koro/goro
- koso
- kurai/gurai
- made
- made ni
- me
- mo
- mono/mon
- mono de
- mono ka/mon-ka
- mono nara
- mono o
- na and naa
- nado
- nanka/nante
- nara
- ne
- ni
- ni te
- ni wa
- no
- no de
- nomi
- no ni
- o
- sa/saa
- sae
- de sae
- sae...ba/ra
- shi
- shika
- sura
- to
- to ka
- to mo
- tte
- tteba
- wa
- ya
- yara
- yo
- yori
- ze
- zo
- zutsu
Meaning and usage
Contrast
は wa and が ga
に ni and で de
Ni and de can both be used to show location, corresponding to the prepositions "in" or "at" in English. Their uses are mutually exclusive.
Ni, when used to show location, is used only with stative verbs such as iru, "to be, exist;" aru, "to be, exist, have;" and sumu, "to live, inhabit."
- 日本に住んでいる。 (Nihon-ni sunde iru. "I live in Japan.")
- 学校にいる。 (Gakkō-ni iru. "I am in school.")
De is used with action verbs to convey the place of action, as opposed to location of being.
- 学校で寝る。 (Gakkō-de neru. "I sleep in/at school.")
- *Gakkō-ni neru. *"I sleep to school," is not usually used.
に ni and へ e
Ni and e can both indicate direction of motion, literally meaning "to" or "at" in English. However, as particles in Japanese directly modify the preceding noun, some Japanese language courses call this the "goal of movement" usage because it marks the goal of the movement. For example, in the sentence 私はうちに帰ります (Watashi wa uchi ni kaerimasu or "I'm going back home") the goal of the movement is home (uchi ni). In this sense, e is perhaps closer to English "towards" in terms of use (see example below). As long as ni is used directionally, it is possible to substitute e in its place. Ni used in other senses cannot be replaced by e:
- 学校に行く。 (Gakkō ni iku. "I'm going to school"), where 学校 gakkō, "school," is the destination of 行く iku, "go."
- Gakkō e iku. "I'm going to school," where gakkō, "school," is the destination of iku, "go."
- 学校にいる。 (Gakkō ni iru. "I'm at school"), where 学校 gakkō, "school," is the location of いる iru, "be;" not a destination.
- Gakkō e iru. *"I'm to school," is not a possible construction since "be" is not a verb of motion.
- 友達に会う。 (Tomodachi ni au "I'll meet my friends") where 友達 tomodachi, "friends," is the indirect object of 会う au, "meet;" not a destination.
- Tomodachi e au *"I'll meet to my friends," which is impossible because "meet" is not a verb of motion.
- 本を買いに行った。 (Hon o kai ni itta "I went to buy a book"), where 買いに kai ni, "to buy," shows purpose or intent, and is a verbal adverb; not destination.
- Hon o kai e itta *"I went towards buying a book," is not possible because kai, "buying," cannot be a destination.
Indicating direction, using e instead of ni is preferred when ni is used non-directionally in proximity:
- 友達に会いに京都へ行った。 (Tomodachi ni ai ni Kyōto e itta. "I went to Kyoto to meet my friends.")
Ni can not be replaced by e in all uses. It must be used with days of the week as in 日曜日に京都にいきます (Nichiyoubi ni Kyoto ni ikimasu "I will go to Kyoto on Sunday".) where ni is used both to mark the day of the week (日曜日) and the goal of the movement (京都). It is also required with numerical times (but not relative times). For example, ni must be used in the sentence 十一時に寝ます (Juu ichi ji ni nemasu "I will go to sleep at 11 o'clock") to mark the numerical time (十一時) but it is not used with the relative time words like tomorrow (明日), yesterday (昨日), today (今日), last week (先週), next month (来月), etc. For example, in the sentence 私は昨日仕事に行きませんでした (watashi wa kinou shigoto ni ikimasen deshita "I did not go to work yesterday") no particle is needed for "yesterday" (昨日), but ni is used to mark the goal of movement (仕事に).
が ga and を o
In some cases, ga and o are seemingly interchangeable. For example, with the tai form, meaning "want to", it is possible to say either of the following:
- ご飯が食べたい。 (Gohan ga tabetai. "I want to eat rice.")
- ご飯を食べたい。 (Gohan o tabetai. "I want to eat rice.")
This is because たい (an adjective indicating desire) can either be a helper adjective attached to a verb or a standalone adjective in conjunction with the previous verb depending on context. If the above sentences were broken down, they could be interpreted as
- ご飯が[食べたい]。 "Rice [is desired to be eaten]."
- [ご飯を食べ]たい。 "[Eating rice] is desirable."
に ni and と to
Ni and to are sometimes interchangeable in forms like になる ni naru and となる to naru. The ni naru form suggests a natural change, whereas to naru suggests change to a final stage.
や ya and と to
Ya is used for incomplete lists, whereas to is used for complete ones.
Historical particles
い i was used in Old Japanese and kanbun works. Its meaning is still debated, but has traditionally been considered emphatic.
Differences from English prepositions
Although many Japanese particles fill the role of prepositions, there is often no equivalent in Japanese for English prepositions like "on" or "about". Instead, particles are often used along with verbs or nouns to modify another word where English would use a preposition. For example, ue is a noun meaning "top/up", and ni tsuite is a fixed verbal expression meaning "concerning":
テーブルの
Tēburu-no
Table-OF
上に
-ue-ni
top/up-AT
ある。
aru.
exists.
"It's on the table."
あの
Ano
That
人は、
hito-wa,
person-TOPIC
ギターに
gitā-ni
guitar-TO
ついて
tsuite
concerning
何でも
nandemo
anything
わかる。
wakaru.
knows.
"That person knows everything about guitars."