Japanese particles, joshi (助詞) or teniwoha (てにをは), 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.
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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.
Types of particles
There are eight types of particles, depending on what function they serve.
が、の、を、に、へ、と、で、から、より
か、の、や、に、と、やら、なり、だの
か、の、や、な、わ、とも、かしら
さ、よ、ね
ばかり、まで、だけ、ほど、くらい、など、なり、やら
は、も、こそ、でも、しか、さえ、だに
ば、や、が、て、のに、ので、から、ところが、けれども
の、から
Note that some particles appear in two types. For example, "kara" is a case marker where it describes where something is from or what happens after something; when it describes a cause it is a conjunctive particle.
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.") 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, meaning "to" or "at" in English. 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.")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:
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.")Similarly, 好き suki, a na adjective meaning "liked", can take either ga or o:
君が好きだ。 (Kimi ga suki da, "I like you") 君を好きでよかった (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 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
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", 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", and when used as postpositions:
Tēburu-no -ue-ni aru. Table-OF top/up-AT exists. "It's on the table." Ano hito-wa, gitā-ni tsuite nandemo wakaru. That person-TOPIC guitar-TO concerning anything knows. "That person knows everything about guitars."