Sixth Lesson: Particles

Hello again,

Up to here it has not been that hard, does it? Well now comes the hard part: particles.

First, let's see the Japanese sentence estructure:
There is just one rule in Japanese: THE VERB COMES AT THE END. The other stuff can have the order you like. For example the sentence "This friday my mother and I are going to look for a gift for my father"; in Japanese the sentence could be in these orders and will mean just the same:

• and I, my mother, this friday, to my father, a gift, are going to look for.
• This friday, to my father, my mother, a gift, and I, are going to look for.
• etc.

Just keep in mind that the verb comes at the end.

Second, in Japanese the words don't mean anything if they are not followed by particles. Particles are like the link between the words and are used in every sentence. This is the hardest part of the language and basically if you can handle the particles you can speak Japanese (really, you can) so let's take a look at these.

There are 15 particles in Japanese, which I'll explain in this order: Particle, pronounciation and uses. So here it goes!

は        WA        It marks the main subject of the sentence, what you are going to talk about.

が        GA         Replaces は in certain situations. It is mostly used with the verbs 'to have', 'to adjust', 'to need' or with expressions like 'there is' 'there are'.

も        MO       Indicates also and can replace は,が in some situations. It also indicates neither or either.

の       NO        Indicates owner or possessiveness. Replaces my, your, his, her, their, our, its, etc.

と        TO        Means AND or WITH.

や        YA        Means and but it is used when it is going to be followed by the word 'etc'.


か        KA       Indicates a question mark. Also means OR.

しか  SHIKA  Means BUT.

へ        E         Similar to TO. Indicates the place where you are heading to.

に       NI         Means: IN: place of existence. TO: place where you are heading to. AT: indicates the precise time. TO: person who is beneficiary.

で       DE        Means: AT: place where the action is done. WITH: prime material wich something is made for. WITH: tool that is used. IN/WITH/OF/BY: means. BECAUSE: gives the reason why.

 を       O          Direct complement. Also means IN: place of movement. FROM: place where the action started.

 から KARA    Means: FROM and BECAUSE.        

 まで  MADE    Means: UNTIL.

より YORI      Means more than.

OK those are the particles. I know some of the things don't mmake much sense, but with some excersices you'll be able to handle them. Try to learn them by heart and I'll post some examples later this evening.

Bye!