Japanese · Rung 8 of 30

Particles: は, が, を, に, で

A particle goes after the word and states its role in the sentence, as if Spanish put its prepositions at the end. Word order matters little because the particle already settles it. The first five: は marks the topic (“as for…”), が the subject that is new information, を the direct object, に the destination or the exact moment, で the place where something happens or the means used. The commonest confusion is に versus で: 図書館に行きます is “I go to the library” and 図書館で勉強します is “I study at the library”. The second is は versus が: 私は学生です introduces the topic; 誰が来ましたか asks for the subject, and the answer takes が.

Where this sits

Comes after
Hiragana
Opens up
Verbs: ます, negative and past, い and な adjectives, Particles: と, も, から, まで, へ, Counters and quantities

Exercises from this rung

Generated by the app, from easiest to hardest

  1. コーヒー___飲みます。

    • に
    • は
    • を
    • が

    Why を marks what receives the action of 飲む. A frequent slip is が, which would mark who drinks, not what is drunk.

    easier

  2. これは田中さん___本です。

    • の
    • を
    • が
    • は

    Why の joins two nouns with the possessor first: 私の本, my book. It also chains: 日本語の先生の本.

    in between

  3. 公園___駅まで歩きます。

    • で
    • から
    • まで
    • に

    Why から opens the stretch and まで closes it, in space and in time: 九時から五時まで.

    harder