Japanese particles, joshi (助詞)[a] or teni(o)ha (てに（を）は),[3][4] 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: (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.
Types of particles
There are eight types of particles, depending on what function they serve.
ba, ya, ga, te, noni, node, kara, tokoroga, keredomo, kuseni
Phrasal particles (準体助詞, juntai-joshi)
の,
no,
から
kara
の, から
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".
^Literally "helping words" or "auxiliary words". This term originally referred to "particles", "auxiliary verbs" and "suffixes" in Japanese, the latter two are now respectively termed jodōshi (助動詞) and setsubigo (接尾語).[1] It was also used for "auxiliary verbs" (助動詞, jodōshi) in some European grammars.[2]
^ abcThe particles pronounced o, e, and wa are written with the hiragana を (wo), へ (he), and は (ha). See Orthography and diction above.
Etymology: Originally an alteration of ni te, later treated as a conjugation of the copula da. de can be used as "at" or "by means of". When serving as the continuative TE form of a subordinate clause, de substitutes for da/desu, carries the meaning "is, and so...", and takes on the tense of the final verb of the sentence.
A reduced form of ne, yo or ya.[5][6] It can follow imperative forms. In most modern dialects, it was fused permanently to the once free imperative form ko (来) to form koi (来い; come!). It is still prevalent in western dialects' imperative forms where yo would be used in standard Japanese, such as okii (起きい) and akei/akee (開けい・開けえ). See ka i and Japanese conjugation § Imperative: Conjugation table.
Translates to: "although, but" Etymology: kedo is a shortened version of formal keredomo. It also appears semi-abbreviated and semi-formally as keredo or kedomo.
Translates to: "Similar to ka but in an attempt to recall forgotten information." Etymology: kke originates from the auxiliary verb of Old Japanese "keri".
Verb + mono (物) : creates a noun from the verb (only applies to certain verbs) もの/もん at the end of a sentence: casual feminine sentence ender like の; もん is very feminine and a bit cheeky.
With verbs
Nomimono 飲み物
Drink
Tabemono 食べ物
Food
Ikimono 生き物
Living thing
At the end of a sentence
"Doushite konakatta no?" "Jugyō ga attanda mono." 「どうしてこなかったの？」「授業があったんだもの。」
"Why didn't you come?" "I had class."
"Doushite konakatta no?" "Jugyō ga attanda mon." 「どうしてこなかったの？」「授業があったんだもん。」
Na (な only): used with a class of adjectives which behave grammatically like nouns (see na-adjectives). A more archaic form of this na is naru (なる), which is used in the same way. If na follows a dictionary form verb, it is a negative command ("Don't... "). However, if used with a verb stem, it implies the opposite: "Do..." as a short form of nasai (なさい). It is also used to modify general nouns before other particles which cannot directly follow nouns (e.g. no de). Etymology: The na used with nouns (including na-adjectives) is a form of the copula. Na or naa at the end of a sentence is a variant of ne, implying more reflection.
Translates to: "eh"; interjection, tag question Similar to English "hey", "eh?", French "non?" and Spanish "¿no?" Asks or shows agreement and reflection at phrase-end, also used before sentences to catch listener's attention (informal).
When nominalizing whole phrases, the no may function either as emphasis or as a question, depending on tone of voice. Similar to English, a falling tone denotes a statement, and a rising tone a question. Its use to mark statements tends to be more typical of feminine speech. See also Gender differences in spoken Japanese.
Translates to: "only, just" Nomi is more formal and far less common than dake. Unlike dake, its only meaning is that of small quantity or singleness of frequency.
Nouns
Tō-ten de wa, Nihon en nomi go-riyō itadakemasu. 当店では、日本円のみご利用頂けます。
Translates to: "despite, although, even though; would have; in order to" Etymology: no + ni Nouns and na-adjectives must be followed by na before using this particle. No ni has a stronger meaning than kedo when used to mean "although", and conveys regret when used to mean "would have".
Adjectives, verbs: "although"
Benkyō shiten no ni, eigo ga hanasenai. 勉強してんのに、英語が話せない。
Functions as: Masculine sentence/phrase final particle, indicating explanation of obvious facts. It is softer than yo. Saa: Feminine sentence/phrase final particle, used like ne, but often more frequently as extremely colloquial filler.
Phrases: masculine sa
Kanojo ga inai kara, dansu niwa ikanai sa. 彼女がいないから、ダンスには行かないさ。
I don't have a girlfriend, so I'm not going to the dance.
Phrases: saa
Kinō saa, gakkō de saa, sensei ni saa, chūi sarete saa, chō mukatsuita. 昨日さあ、学校でさあ、先生にさあ、注意されてさあ、超むかついた。
Like, yesterday, in, like, school, I, like, got fussed at by, like, some teacher, and it totally made me sick.
Note the meaning overlaps with mo. Sae implies (usually) positive emphasis that the evident extent of something is greater than initially expected. Can be followed by mo for additional emphasis. Contrast this with sura.
Translates to: "only, just" Shika must be followed by a negative verb. Shika may be compounded as dakeshika, kirishika, and nomishika (plus the negative verb) to stress an extremely limited quantity or frequency.
Nouns
Ichi en dama shika nai. 一円玉しかない。
I have just a one-yen coin.
Verb
Yūbin-kyoku ni iku shika nai. 郵便局に行くしかない。
The only thing [to do] is to go to the post office.
Note the meaning overlaps with mo. Sura implies (usually) negative emphasis that the evident extent of something is less than initially expected. Contrast this with sae.
Functions as: A listing particle used like nado. Often used with the question word nani (what) in the form nantoka ("something or other"). Etymology: to + ka
Nouns
Kani to ka, hotate to ka, zenbu tabeta yo. 蟹とか、帆立とか、全部食べたよ。
We had crab, scallops, [other stuff,] we ate them all.
To mo (no kanji): "even if, even though; at the ...-est; whether; [emphasis]" If following a noun and used with a negative verb, meaning changes to "none".
Written as って in hiragana, this is another form of to. It is a shortened version of toiu (という), the present progressive form of the verb iu (言う), "to say"; it functions as a type of verbal quotation mark. It is sometimes used for a direct quote, sometimes for an indirect quote, and sometimes simply to emphasize a word or concept.
tte is casual, and (because it can be a direct quote) the politeness level of the quoted material does not necessarily reflect on the speaker. If you wish to be assuredly formal, use to iimasu instead of tte.
Any phrase
Sugu kimasu tte すぐ来ますって。
Could be, "He said he'll come soon" (more politely) or, "He said, 'I'll come soon.'" (less so).
Arabiago tte, muzukashikunai? アラビア語って難しくない？
"Arabic─isn't it difficult?" (Emphasizing a word; used instead of というものは or は)
わwa is used at the end of the sentence to establish an emotional connection. It is used by both genders when it is pronounced with a falling intonation especially in dialects of Kansai, Nagoya and elsewhere, but with a rising intonation, it is generally used by females. This also conveys a certain deference to the speaker's wishes and emotions.
Zutsu denotes an equal or gradual distribution of quantity like "at a time" in "one at a time", "by" in "one by one", or "each" in "one each". It usually follows counted nouns, and is written with hiragana as ずつ.
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.[12]
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.
テーブルの上に ある。
Tēburu-no-ue-ni aru.
Table-OF top/up-AT 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.
あの 人は、 ギターについて 何でも わかる。
Ano hito-wa, gitā-nitsuite nandemo wakaru.
That person-TOPIC guitar-TO concerning anything knows.
^Nanka/nante is usually followed by a verb which conveys some kind of undervalue, lacking, or dislike, often in the negative.
^Can immediately follow i-adjectives, using the adjective's ku form if followed by the negative, or if the adjective is followed by no. Na-adjectives require the copula da or no before nante or nanka.
^Phrases ending in a noun or na-adjective require the na form of the copula before the nominalizing no.
^Title of a Japanese TV programme hosted by Tamori.
Chino, Naoko (2005). How to Tell the Difference Between Japanese Particles. Tokyo; New York: Kodansha International. ISBN4-7700-2200-X.
Makino, Seiichi; Tsutsui, Michio (1986). A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar. Tokyo: Japan Times. ISBN4-7890-0454-6.
Makino, Seiichi; Tsutsui, Michio (1997). A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar. Tokyo: Japan Times. ISBN4-7890-0775-8.
Martin, Samuel Elmo (2004). A Reference Grammar of Japanese. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.
Matsuoka McClain, Yoko (1981). A Handbook of Modern Japanese Grammar: Including Lists of Words and Expressions with English Equivalents for Reading Aid. Tokyo: Hokuseido Press. ISBN4-590-00570-0.
