Particles
YES! This is where you want to be right now. Particles! Think Atreyu from Never Ending Story when he had to cross those two HUGE sphinx statues ready to zap anyone dead with their eyes who they deemed not worthy enough to cross. Good thing you're here though. You were meant to be here. It is your destiny! Just believe in yourself and you will go far.
Some of you reaching this point may still be intimidated, and some of you may be waiting for me to stop yapping already and get to the good stuff! Well either way, don't worry because Japanese particles are a piece of cake.
The topic-marking particle は (wa)
This は particle lets the listener or reader know what is being talked about (the "topic"). Here is an example:
- ねこは あかいです。(ne-ko wa a-ka-i de-su.)
[As for] the cat, it is red.
By saying ねこは, you are automatically letting the the listener or reader know that you are talking about a cat. は can be translated in English as "As for..."
"ねこは あかいです。 / Neko-wa akai-desu. / As for the cat, it is red."
Yes that's right, we're using the Hiragana は (ha) here, but since は is being used as a particle in this sentence, it is pronounced "WA". This is the first of the few particle "pronunciation exceptions" you will have to learn in order to speak or write proper Japanese. There are aren't too many particles that are pronounced differently, so that's good!
One thing to note is that while proper grammar is always good to know, don't feel it is absolutely necessary to master grammar in order to communicate with a Japanese person! You would much rather have someone speak broken English to you in order to get a point across, than listen to someone that keeps saying "Uh.. uh... uh.....uhhh," right?
The point is, learn grammar at your own pace, just know that once you take the time to fully understand, you will be well on your way to understanding and speaking great Japanese on your own!
The particle に (ni)
This is what you call the destination particle. If you wanted to say "I wake up at 11:30am," or "I am going to school," you would use the particle に. Let's take a look at these examples in Japanese to see exactly how に is used:
- わたしはごぜんじゅういちじはんにおきます。(watashi-wa gozen jyuu-ichi-ji-han-ni okimasu.)
I at 11:30am wake up. / I wake up at 11:30am.
- わたしはがっこうにいきます。(watashi-wa gakkoo-ni ikimasu.)
I to school am going. / I am going to school.
You'll notice that you are given two English translations for each example above. The first translation is a more "literal" translation, while the second translation is a more English-friendly version. The reason the first translation sounds a little backwards is because Japanese works a little differently than English. In Japanese, verbs (action words) are usually the last thing that is said — sort of like how Yoda from Star Wars talks: The force with you, it is! More on Japanese sentence order later!
The particle を (wo)
This is the direct-object particle. This is the particle you want to use when you want to say something is being done to something. As in the water is being drank or the T.V. is being watched or the sushi is being eaten.
The を particle is one of the more interesting-looking Hiragana characters. When this Hiragana appears, it is almost always being used as a direct-object particle instead of being part of an actual word. When を appears, it is safe to assume that something is being done to something. Let's take a look at these examples: