Learn about the object-marking particle
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| Hi, everyone. |
| Welcome to the Ultimate Japanese Particle Guide. |
| In this lesson, you'll learn the particle... |
| を (o) |
| This particle is often referred to as the object particle or object marker, because it usually comes after the direct object of an action. |
| Let's see how it functions in a sentence. Risa, How do you say “to eat”? |
| 食べます (tabemasu) |
| Now for “eat” you need an object. The thing you eat is known as the object of the sentence. For example, say you eat “sushi.” So the object is "sushi," and it has to be followed by the object particle. |
| 寿司を (sushi o) |
| Then add the verb. |
| 食べます (tabemasu) |
| 寿司を食べます。 (sushi o tabemasu.) |
| This means “To eat sushi.” |
| Risa, can you also add the subject of the sentence and say “I eat sushi”? |
| Sure. |
| 私は寿司を食べます。 (Watashi wa sushi o tabemasu.) |
| Great. Let’s try it with another verb. How do you say “to make”? |
| 作ります (tsukurimasu) |
| How do we say “to make curry”? |
| The object is “curry,” followed by the object marker is… |
| カレーを ( karē o) |
| Altogether |
| カレーを作ります (Karē o tsukurimasu) |
| Okay. And now let’s put the subject. Let’s say “John makes curry” |
| ジョンさんはカレーを作ります。 (Jon-san wa karē o tsukurimasu.) |
| Some textbooks spell this particle as W-O. Risa, how do we spell and pronounce this particle? |
| The object marking particle is in the last row of the Hiragana chart, it sounds like the regular お (o) as in あいうえお, that's why we spell it "O (o)." |
| Now, let's take a look at a few more examples. |
| 私は薬を飲みます。 (Watashi wa kusuri o nomimasu.) |
| “I’ll take medicine.” |
| これをください。(Kore o kudasai.) |
| "Please give me this one." |
| 私は新しい車を買いました。 (Watashi wa atarashii kuruma o kaimashita.) |
| “I bought a new car.” |
| This particle can also be used to indicate the place of movement, in addition to being used as an object marking particle. In this usage, it is used with verbs that describe motion "to walk,” "to fly,” "to cross,” "to turn,” and so on. |
| In Japanese these verbs are 歩きます (arukimasu), 飛びます (tobimasu), 渡ります (watarimasu), 曲がります (magarimasu), among others. |
| Let's see how it functions in a sentence. For example how do you say "to walk through the park"? |
| "Park" is 公園 (Kōen), |
| so 公園を歩きます (Kōen o arukimasu). |
| "To cross a bridge"? |
| "Bridge" is 橋 (Hashi), |
| so 橋を渡ります (Hashi o watarimasu). |
| Notice how the particle marks the place where the movement takes place. "Through the park" was... |
| 公園を (Kōen o ) |
| "Bridge" was |
| 橋を (Hashi o) |
| Here is another example. |
| あの角を曲がってください。(Ano kado o magatte kudasai.) |
| This means “Please turn at that corner.” |
| 曲がって (magatte) or 曲がります (magarimasu / “to turn”), is the movement. Where it takes place, あの角 (ano kado / “that corner”), is marked by を (o). |
| Let's take a look at a few more examples. |
| ウミガメは海を泳ぎます。(Umigame wa umi o oyogimasu.) |
| "A turtle swims in the sea." |
| セミは木を登ります。 (Semi wa ki o noborimasu.) |
| "A cicada climbs up a tree." |
| 彼は交差点を渡ります。(Kare wa kōsaten o watarimasu.) |
| “He crosses the intersection.” |
| Now, let's use what you learned in this lesson. |
| How do you say "I forgot the umbrella"? The words for "umbrella" and "to forget" are... |
| 傘 (kasa) |
| 忘れる(wasureru) |
| We learned how to say “I eat sushi” |
| 私は寿司を食べます。 (Watashi wa sushi o tabemasu.) |
| The particle o (を) marks the direct object of an action. The structure of the sentence is... |
| [object] |
| を (o) |
| [verb] |
| Now let's try with "I forgot the umbrella." The words for "umbrella" and "to forget" are... |
| 傘 (kasa) |
| 忘れます(wasuremasu) |
| “I forgot” in masu-form is.. |
| 忘れました (wasuremashita) |
| Try to say "I forgot the umbrella" in Japanese. [pause] |
| 傘を忘れました。(Kasa o wasuremashita.) |
| Did you get it right? In this sentence, the particle indicates the object. |
| Let's try one more. We also learned how to say "to walk through the park." |
| 公園を歩きます。 (Kōen o arukimasu). |
| Here, the particle o (を) marks the place of movement. The structure is... |
| [place of movement] |
| を(o) |
| [motion verb] |
| Now, let's try with "to fly in the sky." Here are the words meaning "sky" and "to fly." |
| 空 (sora) |
| 飛びます (tobimasu) |
| How do you say "to fly in the sky" in Japanese? [pause] |
| 空を飛びます。 (sora o tobimasu) |
| Right. In this case, the particle marks the place of movement. |
| In this lesson, you learned about the particle… |
| を |
| In the next lesson, you'll learn about the particle... |
| へ |
| See you in the next lesson. Bye! |
| Bye~ |
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