{"id":157,"date":"2017-10-16T12:29:41","date_gmt":"2017-10-16T16:29:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/?p=157"},"modified":"2022-02-19T19:15:53","modified_gmt":"2022-02-20T00:15:53","slug":"introduction-to-particles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/grammar\/particlesintro","title":{"rendered":"Introduction to Particles"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Defining grammatical functions with particles<\/h2>\n<p>We want to now make good use of what we learned in the last lesson by associating a noun with another noun. This is done with something called particles. Particles are one or more Hiragana characters that attach to the end of a word to define the grammatical function of that word in the sentence. Using the correct particles is very important because the meaning of a sentence can completely change just by changing the particles. For example, the sentence &#8220;Eat fish.&#8221; can become &#8220;The fish eats.&#8221; simply by changing one particle.<\/p>\n<h2>The \u300c\u306f\u300d topic particle<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uZb5IOXBByQ\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Vocabulary<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>\u5b66\u751f \u3010\u304c\u304f\u30fb\u305b\u3044\u3011 &#8211; student<\/li>\n<li>\u3046\u3093 &#8211; yes (casual)<\/li>\n<li>\u660e\u65e5 \u3010\u3042\u3057\u305f\u3011 &#8211; tomorrow<\/li>\n<li>\u3046\u3046\u3093 &#8211; no (casual)<\/li>\n<li>\u4eca\u65e5 \u3010\u304d\u3087\u3046\u3011 &#8211; today<\/li>\n<li>\u8a66\u9a13 \u3010\u3057\u3051\u3093\u3011 &#8211; exam<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The first particle we will learn is the topic particle. The topic particle identifies what it is that you&#8217;re talking about, essentially the topic of your sentence. Let&#8217;s say a person says, &#8220;Not student.&#8221; This is a perfectly valid sentence in Japanese but it doesn&#8217;t tell us much without knowing what the person is talking about. The topic particle will allow us to express what our sentences are about. The topic particle is the character \u300c\u306f\u300d. Now, while this character is normally pronounced as \/ha\/, it is pronounced \/wa\/ only when it is being used as the topic particle.<\/p>\n<h3>Example 1<\/h3>\n<p>\u30dc\u30d6\uff1a\u30a2\u30ea\u30b9<em>\u306f<\/em><span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u304c\u304f\u305b\u3044 - student\">\u5b66\u751f<\/span>\uff1f<br \/>\nBob: Is Alice (you) student?<\/p>\n<p>\u30a2\u30ea\u30b9\uff1a<span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u3046\u3093 - yeah, uh huh\">\u3046\u3093<\/span>\u3001<span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u304c\u304f\u305b\u3044 - student\">\u5b66\u751f<\/span>\u3002<br \/>\nAlice: Yeah, (I) am.<\/p>\n<p>Here, Bob is indicating that his question is about Alice. Notice that once the topic is established, Alice does not have to repeat the topic to answer the question about herself.<\/p>\n<h3>Example 2<\/h3>\n<p>\u30dc\u30d6\uff1a\u30b8\u30e7\u30f3<em>\u306f<\/em><span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u3042\u3057\u305f - tomorrow\">\u660e\u65e5<\/span>\uff1f<br \/>\nBob: John is tomorrow?<\/p>\n<p>\u30a2\u30ea\u30b9\uff1a\u3046\u3046\u3093\u3001<span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u3042\u3057\u305f - tomorrow\">\u660e\u65e5<\/span>\u3058\u3083\u306a\u3044\u3002<br \/>\nAlice: No, not tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p>Since we have no context, we don&#8217;t have enough information to make any sense of this conversation. It obviously makes no sense for John to actually <b>be<\/b> tomorrow. Given a context, as long as the sentence has something to do with John and tomorrow, it can mean anything. For instance, they could be talking about when John is taking an exam.<\/p>\n<h3>Example 3<\/h3>\n<p>\u30a2\u30ea\u30b9\uff1a<span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u304d\u3087\u3046 - today\">\u4eca\u65e5<\/span>\u306f<span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u3057\u3051\u3093 - exam\">\u8a66\u9a13<\/span>\u3060\u3002<br \/>\nAlice: Today is exam.<\/p>\n<p>\u30dc\u30d6\uff1a\u30b8\u30e7\u30f3\u306f\uff1f<br \/>\nBob: What about John?<\/p>\n<p>\u30a2\u30ea\u30b9\uff1a\u30b8\u30e7\u30f3\u306f<span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u3042\u3057\u305f - tomorrow\">\u660e\u65e5<\/span>\u3002<br \/>\nAlice: John is tomorrow. (As for John, the exam is tomorrow.)<\/p>\n<p>The last example shows how generic the topic of a sentence is. A topic can be referring to any action or object from anywhere even including other sentences. For example, in the last sentence from the previous example, even though the sentence is about when the exam is for John, the word &#8220;exam&#8221; doesn&#8217;t appear anywhere in the sentence!<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ll see a more specific particle that ties more closely into the sentence at the end of this lesson with the identifier particle.<\/p>\n<h2>The \u300c\u3082\u300d inclusive topic particle<\/h2>\n<h3>Vocabulary<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>\u5b66\u751f \u3010\u304c\u304f\u30fb\u305b\u3044\u3011 &#8211; student<\/li>\n<li>\u3046\u3093 &#8211; yes (casual)<\/li>\n<li>\u3067\u3082 &#8211; but<\/li>\n<li>\u3046\u3046\u3093 &#8211; no (casual)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Another particle that is very similar to the topic particle is the inclusive topic particle. It is essentially the topic particle with the additional meaning of &#8220;also&#8221;. Basically, it can introduce another topic in addition to the current topic. The inclusive topic particle is the \u300c\u3082\u300d character and its use is best explained by an example.<\/p>\n<h3>Example 1<\/h3>\n<p>\u30dc\u30d6\uff1a\u30a2\u30ea\u30b9\u306f<span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u304c\u304f\u305b\u3044 - student\">\u5b66\u751f<\/span>\uff1f<br \/>\nBob: Is Alice (you) student?<\/p>\n<p>\u30a2\u30ea\u30b9\uff1a\u3046\u3093\u3001\u30c8\u30e0<em>\u3082<\/em><span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u304c\u304f\u305b\u3044 - student\">\u5b66\u751f<\/span>\u3002<br \/>\nAlice: Yeah, and Tom is <em>also<\/em> student.<\/p>\n<p>The inclusion of \u300c\u3082\u300d must be consistent with the answer. It would not make sense to say, &#8220;I am a student, and Tom is also not a student.&#8221; Instead, use the \u300c\u306f\u300d particle to make a break from the inclusion as seen in the next example.<\/p>\n<h3>Example 2<\/h3>\n<p>\u30dc\u30d6\uff1a\u30a2\u30ea\u30b9\u306f<span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u304c\u304f\u305b\u3044 - student\">\u5b66\u751f<\/span>\uff1f<br \/>\nBob: Is Alice (you) student?<\/p>\n<p>\u30a2\u30ea\u30b9\uff1a\u3046\u3093\u3001\u3067\u3082\u30c8\u30e0<em>\u306f<\/em><span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u304c\u304f\u305b\u3044 - student\">\u5b66\u751f<\/span>\u3058\u3083\u306a\u3044\u3002<br \/>\nAlice: Yeah, but Tom is not student.<\/p>\n<p>Below is an example of inclusion with the negative.<\/p>\n<h3>Example 3<\/h3>\n<p>\u30dc\u30d6\uff1a\u30a2\u30ea\u30b9\u306f<span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u304c\u304f\u305b\u3044 - student\">\u5b66\u751f<\/span>\uff1f<br \/>\nBob: Is Alice (you) student?<\/p>\n<p>\u30a2\u30ea\u30b9\uff1a\u3046\u3046\u3093\u3001\u30c8\u30e0<em>\u3082<\/em><span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u304c\u304f\u305b\u3044 - student\">\u5b66\u751f<\/span>\u3058\u3083\u306a\u3044\u3002<br \/>\nAlice: No, and Tom is also not student.<\/p>\n<h2>The \u300c\u304c\u300d identifier particle<\/h2>\n<h3>Vocabulary<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>\u8ab0 \u3010\u3060\u308c\u3011 &#8211; who<\/li>\n<li>\u5b66\u751f \u3010\u304c\u304f\u30fb\u305b\u3044\u3011 &#8211; student<\/li>\n<li>\u79c1 \u3010\u308f\u305f\u3057\u3011 &#8211; me; myself; I<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Ok, so we can make a topic using the \u300c\u306f\u300d and \u300c\u3082\u300d particle. But what if we don\u2019t know what the topic is? What if I wanted to ask, \u201cWho is the student?\u201d What I need is some kind of identifier because I don&#8217;t know who the student is. If I use the topic particle, the question would become, \u201cIs who the student?\u201d and that doesn&#8217;t make any sense because &#8220;who&#8221; is not an actual person.<\/p>\n<p>This is where the \u300c\u304c\u300d particle comes into play. It is also referred to as the subject particle but I hate that name since &#8220;subject&#8221; means something completely different in English grammar. Instead, I call it the <i>identifier particle<\/i> because the particle indicates that the speaker wants to identify something unspecified.<\/p>\n<h3>Example 1<\/h3>\n<p>\u30dc\u30d6\uff1a<span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u3060\u308c - who\">\u8ab0<\/span><em>\u304c<\/em><span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u304c\u304f\u305b\u3044 - student\">\u5b66\u751f<\/span>\uff1f<br \/>\nBob: Who is the one that is student?<\/p>\n<p>\u30a2\u30ea\u30b9\uff1a\u30b8\u30e7\u30f3<em>\u304c<\/em><span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u304c\u304f\u305b\u3044 - student\">\u5b66\u751f<\/span>\u3002<br \/>\nAlice: John is the one who is student.<\/p>\n<p>Bob wants to identify who among all the possible candidates is a student. Alice responds that John is the one. Notice, Alice could also have answered with the topic particle to indicate that, speaking of John, she knows that he is <i>a<\/i> student (maybe not <i>the<\/i> student). You can see the difference in the next example.<\/p>\n<h3>Example 2<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li><span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u3060\u308c - who\">\u8ab0<\/span><em>\u304c<\/em><span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u304c\u304f\u305b\u3044 - student\">\u5b66\u751f<\/span>\uff1f<br \/>\nWho is the one that is student?<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u304c\u304f\u305b\u3044 - student\">\u5b66\u751f<\/span>\u306f<span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u3060\u308c - who\">\u8ab0<\/span>\uff1f<br \/>\n(The) student is who?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The first sentence seeks to identify a specific person for &#8220;student&#8221; while the second sentence is simply talking about the student. You cannot replace \u300c\u304c\u300d with \u300c\u306f\u300d in the first sentence because &#8220;who&#8221; would become the topic and the question would become, &#8220;Is who a student?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The two particles \u300c\u306f\u300d and \u300c\u304c\u300d may seem very similar only because it is impossible to translate them directly into English. For example, the two sentences below have the same English translation.*<\/p>\n<h3>Example 3<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li><span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u308f\u305f\u3057 - me, myself, I\">\u79c1<\/span><em>\u306f<\/em><span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u304c\u304f\u305b\u3044 - student\">\u5b66\u751f<\/span>\u3002<br \/>\nI (am) student.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u308f\u305f\u3057 - me, myself, I\">\u79c1<\/span><em>\u304c<\/em><span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u304c\u304f\u305b\u3044 - student\">\u5b66\u751f<\/span>\u3002<br \/>\nI (am) student.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>However, they only seem similar because English cannot express information about the context as succinctly as Japanese sometimes can. In the first sentence, since \u300c<span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u308f\u305f\u3057 - me, myself, I\">\u79c1<\/span>\u300d is the topic, the sentence means, &#8220;Speaking about me, I am a student&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>However, the second sentence is specifying who the \u300c<span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u304c\u304f\u305b\u3044 - student\">\u5b66\u751f<\/span>\u300d is. If we want to know who the student is, the \u300c\u304c\u300d particle tells us it&#8217;s \u300c<span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u308f\u305f\u3057 - me, myself, I\">\u79c1<\/span>\u300d. You can also think about the \u300c\u304c\u300d particle as always answering a silent question. The second sentence might be answering a question, &#8220;Who is the student?&#8221; I often translate the topic particle as &#8220;as for; about&#8221; and the identifier particle as &#8220;the one; the thing&#8221; to illustrate the difference.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u308f\u305f\u3057 - me, myself, I\">\u79c1<\/span>\u306f<span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u304c\u304f\u305b\u3044 - student\">\u5b66\u751f<\/span>\u3002<br \/>\n<em>As for<\/em> me, (I am) student.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u308f\u305f\u3057 - me, myself, I\">\u79c1<\/span>\u304c<span class=\"popup\" title=\"\u304c\u304f\u305b\u3044 - student\">\u5b66\u751f<\/span>\u3002<br \/>\nI (am) <em>the one<\/em> (that is) student.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The \u300c\u306f\u300d and \u300c\u304c\u300d particles are actually quite different if you think of it the right way. The \u300c\u304c\u300d particle identifies a specific property of something while the \u300c\u306f\u300d particle is used only to bring up a new topic of conversation. This is why, in longer sentences, it is common to separate the topic with commas to remove ambiguity about which part of the sentence the topic applies to.<\/p>\n<p><span>*Well technically, it&#8217;s the most likely translation given the lack of context.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>*Note: The order of topics covered are different in the videos so you may want to read about <a href=\"https:\/\/guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/grammar\/adjectives\">Adjectives<\/a> first.<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fQKy44eVYT4\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Defining grammatical functions with particles We want to now make good use of what we learned in the last lesson by associating a noun with another noun. This is done with something called particles. Particles are one or more Hiragana characters that attach to the end of a word to define the grammatical function of &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/grammar\/particlesintro\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Introduction to Particles&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"series":[4],"class_list":["post-157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-basic-grammar","series-grammar-guide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1723,"href":"https:\/\/guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157\/revisions\/1723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}