Japanese particles

Japanese particles, or , are suffixes or short words in Japanese grammar that immediately follow the modified noun, verb, adjective, or sentence. Their grammatical range can indicate various meanings and functions, such as speaker affect and assertiveness.

Orthography and diction

Japanese particles are written in hiragana in modern Japanese, though some of them also have kanji forms ( or for ''te'' ; for ''ni'' ; or for ''o'' ; and for ''wa'' ). Particles follow the same rules of phonetic transcription as all Japanese words, with the exception of (written ''ha'', pronounced ''wa'' as a particle), (written ''he'', pronounced ''e'') and (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.

Types of particles

There are eight types of particles, depending on what function they serve.

:
: ''ga, no, o, ni, e, to, de, kara, yori''

:
:''ka, no, ya, ni, to, yara, nari, dano''

:
:''ka, no, ya, na, wa, tomo, kashira''

:
: ''sa, yo, ne''

:
: ''bakari, made, dake, hodo, kurai, nado, nari, yara''

:
: ''wa, mo, koso, demo, shika, sae, dani''

:
: ''ba, ya, ga, te, noni, node, kara, tokoroga, keredomo, kuseni''

:
:''no, 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."

* (''Nihon-ni sunde iru.'' "I live in Japan.")
* (''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.

* (''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 (''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'':

* (''Gakkō ni iku.'' "I'm going to school"), where ''gakkō'', "school," is the destination of ''iku'', "go."
**''Gakkō e iku.'' "I'm going to school," where ''gakkō'', "school," is the destination of ''iku'', "go."
* (''Gakkō ni iru.'' "I'm at school"), where ''gakkō'', "school," is the location of ''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.
* (''Tomodachi ni au'' "I'll meet my friends") where ''tomodachi'', "friends," is the indirect object of ''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.
* (''Hon o kai ni itta'' "I went to buy a book"), where ''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:

* (''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 (''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 (''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 (''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 interchangeable. For example, with the ''tai'' form, meaning "want to", it is possible to say either of the following:
* (''Gohan ga tabetai.'' "I want to eat rice.")
* (''Gohan o tabetai.'' "I want to eat rice.")

Similarly, 好き ''suki'', a '' na adjective'' meaning "liked", can take either ''ga'' or ''o'':
* (''Kimi ga suki da'' "I like you")
* (''Kimi o suki de yokatta'' "I'm glad I like you") (words from a popular song)

に ''ni'' and と ''to''

''Ni'' and ''to'' are sometimes interchangeable in forms like ''ni naru'' and ''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

''i'' was used in Old Japanese and kanbun works. Its meaning is still debated, but has traditionally been considered emphatic.

Differences from English prepositions

Many Japanese particles fill the role of prepositions in English, but they are unlike prepositions in many ways. Japanese does not have equivalents of prepositions like "on" or "about", and often uses particles along with verbs and nouns to modify another word where English might use prepositions. For example, ''ue'' is a noun meaning "top/up"; and ''ni tsuite'' is a fixed verbal expression meaning "concerning":

See also

* Adposition
* Chinese particles
* Okinawan particles
* Korean particles
* Japanese counter words
* Japanese grammar: particles
* Japanese verb conjugations
* Sentence-final particle
* Particles of the Kagoshima dialects

Citations

General references

* Chino, Naoko. ''How to Tell the Difference Between Japanese Particles''. Tokyo; New York: Kodansha International, 2005. .
* Makino, Seiichi, and Michio Tsutsui. ''A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar''. Tokyo: Japan Times, 1986. .
* Makino, Seiichi, and Michio Tsutsui. ''A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar''. Tokyo: Japan Times, 1997. .
* Martin, Samuel E. ''A Reference Grammar of Japanese''. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1975. .
* McClain, Yoko Matsuoka. ''A Handbook of Modern Japanese Grammar: Including Lists of Words and Expressions with English Equivalents for Reading Aid''. Tokyo: Hokuseido Press, 1981. , .

External links

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Particles