Learn about the topic-marking particle
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| Hi, everyone. |
| Welcome to the Ultimate Japanese Particle Guide. |
| Particles are a very important part of the Japanese language. The particles used in a sentence give us critical information about the meaning. So if the wrong particles are used, the whole meaning of the sentence could change. That's why it's very important to know how to use the different particles in Japanese. |
| The word for "particle" in Japanese is... |
| 助詞 (joshi) |
| In this series, we’ll go over the main particles one by one. |
| In this lesson, you'll learn the particle... |
| は (wa) |
| This particle is often referred to as the topic particle, because it comes after the topic of the sentence and tells the listener what the sentence is about. We can translate this it as "as for..." or "speaking of..." in English. |
| Let's see how it functions in a sentence. |
| あしたは土曜日です。 (Ashita wa do-yōbi desu.) |
| This means "As for tomorrow, it's Saturday." |
| Let's break it down. |
| あした (Ashita) |
| "tomorrow" |
| は (wa) |
| "As for." |
| Notice that the particle is placed *after* the topic of the sentence. Then we have... |
| 土曜日 (do-yōbi) |
| "Saturday" |
| です(desu) |
| This is the copula which is the equivalent to "is," "am," or "are" in English. So literally it means, "As for tomorrow, Saturday is." But, of course, in natural speech, we'd say “Tomorrow is Saturday.” |
| There is an important point to remember about this particle's pronunciation. |
| This particle is written as the hiragana は (ha). However, when used as a particle it is always pronounced "wa." |
| Now let's take a look at a few more examples. |
| 出身はどこですか。 (Shusshin wa doko desu ka.) |
| Literally “As for your hometown, where is it?” or “Where are you from?” |
| 今日は雨です。 (Kyō wa ame desu.) |
| Literally "As for today, it's rainy." or “It's rainy today.” |
| 沖縄は暑い。(Okinawa wa atsui.) |
| Literally "As for Okinawa, it's hot.” or “It’s hot in Okinawa.” |
| We can also use this particle to show contrast between two items or ideas. |
| When we use it in this way, we mark the two items being contrasted with “wa.” |
| How does it work? |
| For example, if we want to contrast the object of a sentence, we replace the particle を (o) or が (ga) with は (wa). |
| This will make more sense when you hear some examples. So can we hear an example? |
| Sure. 魚は食べます。 でも、肉は食べません。(Sakana wa tabemasu. Demo, niku wa tabemasen.) |
| This means, "I eat fish, but I don't eat meat." |
| Please note that the topic, “I,” as in "I eat," is implied in this sentence. |
| Let’s examine our example sentence closely. First, let’s start with the original sentences. Risa, how do you say “I eat fish”? |
| 魚を食べます。(Sakana o tabemasu.) |
| The object, which in this case is what I eat, is 魚 (sakana). So 魚 (sakana) is marked by the particle を (o). 魚を食べます。(Sakana o tabemasu.)（"I eat fish."） |
| Okay, and how do we say “I don’t eat meat”? |
| "Meat" is 肉 (niku). The negative form of 食べます (tabemasu) is 食べません (tabemasen). So…肉を食べません (Niku o tabemasen). If I add the topic, it will be 私は肉を食べません。(Watashi wa niku o tabemasen. / "I don’t eat meat.") |
| So now to contrast these two sentences, we replace the particle "o" (を) with "wa" (は). So that gives us… |
| 魚は食べます。でも、肉は食べません。(Sakana wa tabemasu. Demo, niku wa tabemasen.) |
| でも (demo) means “but.” |
| So by using "wa" (は) in this sentence, we are putting a lot of contrast between the two items. "I eat fish, but I don’t eat meat." Along with the particle "o" (を), the particle "ga" (が) can also be replaced with "wa" (は) to show contrast. |
| In English, we often show this same kind of contrast through intonation. |
| Let's take a look at a few more examples. |
| 時間はあります。でも、お金はありません。(Jikan wa arimasu. Demo, o-kane wa arimasen.) |
| “I have time, but I don’t have money.” |
| 犬は好きです。でも、猫は嫌いです。(Inu wa suki desu. Demo, neko wa kirai desu.) |
| “I like dogs, but I don’t like cats." |
| アイスクリームは好きです。でも、ケーキは嫌いです。(Aisu kurīmu wa suki desu. Demo, kēki wa kirai desu.) |
| "I like ice cream, but I don’t like cake." |
| Now, let's use what you learned in this lesson. |
| How do you say "I have a pen, but I don't have paper"? Here are the words meaning "pen" and "paper." |
| ペン (pen) |
| 紙 (kami) |
| Try to say "I have a pen, but I don't have paper" in Japanese. [pause] |
| ペンはあります。でも、紙はありません。(Pen wa arimasu. Demo, kami wa arimasen.) |
| Did you get it right? This sentence shows the particle as a contrast marker. |
| Let's try one more. How do you say "I'm a student."? Here are the words meaning "I" and "student." |
| 私 (watashi) |
| 学生 (gakusei) |
| Try to say "I'm a student" in Japanese. [pause] |
| 私は学生です。(Watashi wa gakusei desu.) |
| Right. In this case, "I" is the topic and the subject of this sentence. |
| We learned how to say "Tomorrow is Saturday." |
| 明日は土曜日です。 (Ashita wa do-yōbi desu.) |
| The particle marks the topic of the sentence to tell the listener what the sentence is about. |
| The structure is... |
| [topic] |
| は (wa) |
| [something] |
| Now let's try saying "I'm a student." using the same structure. Here are the words meaning "I" and "student." |
| 私 (watashi) |
| 学生 (gakusei) |
| Try to say "I'm a student." in Japanese. [pause] |
| The answer is... |
| 私は学生です。(Watashi wa gakusei desu.) |
| Did you get it right? In this sentence, は (wa) marks the topic and subject. |
| Let's try one more. We also learned how to say "I eat fish, but I don't eat meat." |
| 魚は食べます。 でも、肉は食べません。(Sakana wa tabemasu. Demo, niku wa tabemasen.) |
| Here the particle は (wa) marks a contrast. |
| We substituted |
| を (o) |
| with |
| は (wa) |
| as we want to highlight the contrast between eating fish, but not meat. So, the structure is |
| [contrasted item] |
| は（wa) |
| Now, let's try to say "I have a pen, but I don't have paper." in Japanese. |
| Here are the words for "pen" and "paper." |
| Normally "I have a pen." is... |
| ペンがあります。(pen ga arimasu) |
| "I don't have paper." is... |
| 紙がありません。(kami ga arimasen) |
| Now, try to say "I have a pen, but I don't have paper." in Japanese. [pause] |
| The answer is... |
| ペンはあります。でも、紙はありません。 |
| Did you get it right? In this sentence, we need to show a contrast between pen and paper, so the particle は (wa) follows them. |
| In this lesson, you learned about the particle... |
| は |
| In the next lesson, you'll learn about the particle... |
| が |
| See you in the next lesson. Bye! |
| Bye~ |
Comments
Hide