JAPANESE PARTICLES
AND ITS USES
WA
WA follows the topic the speaker
wants to talk about.
called topic marking particle.
Used when elaborating on things
already known to the listener.
It is sometimes compared to the
English expressions “As for~” or
“Speaking of ~”
used for contrasting
WA
EXAMPLE:
Watashi wa choko o tabemasu.
I am eating chocolate.
Used to
gramatically link
Kyou wa atsui desu. subject and
predicate.
Today is hot. DESU is a formal
Japanese copula.
Commonly
translated as “to
be” or “it is”
WA
Kinou wa doyoubi deshita.
Past
Yesterday is Saturday. tense of
DESU.
Kanojo wa kawaii desu.
She is cute.
WA
Besidebeing atopic marker, wa
is used to show contrast or to
emphasize the subject.
“Saying Watashi can be omitted
in the sentence in many cases”
WA
EXAMPLE:
Inu wa suki desu. Demo, neko wa kirai
desu.
I like dogs but I hate cats.
Biiru wa nomimasu. Demo, wain wa
nomimasen.
I drink beer. But I don’t drink wine.
GA
GA marks the subject of the
sentence.
The topic is often the same as the
subject, but not always.
Use GA for new or important
subjects.
Use GA when the subject is new
to the speaker or listener.
Can be used for emphasis.
GA
EXAMPLE:
Dare
ga gakkou ni ikimasuka?
Who will go to school?
1. Aki san ga gakkou ni ikimasu.
Aki san is the one who will go to school.
2. Aki san wa gakkou ni ikimasu.
Aki san will go to school.
GA
Who are you?
Anata wa dare desu ka?
- Watashi wa Nicole desu.
I am Nicole.
Who is Nicole?
Nicole san wa dare desu ka?
- Watashi ga Nicole desu.
I am the one who’s Nicole.
WA GA
TopicMarker Subject Marker
Contrasting With question
words
Emphasize
Instead of “o”
WO
Marks the grammatical object of
a sentence.
Whenever you have a direct
object in a sentence, you need to
use the direct object particle wo.
It is spelled in wo, but
pronounced as o.
It comes immediately before the
particle wo followed by the verb.
WO
EXAMPLES:
Hon o yomimasu.
I read books.
Ocha o nomimasu.
I drink tea.
Tegami o kakimashita.
I wrote a letter.
Sakana o tabemasu.
I’m eating fish.
NI
Can be used to indicate a specific
point in time. They are translated
as in, at, or on in English.
Can be used to express clock
times, days of the week, months,
or years.
Used to indicate destination.
NI
EXAMPLES: DESTINATION
Ashita wa, gakkou ni ikimasu.
I will go to school tomorrow.
Kyou wa, koen ni ikimasu.
I will go to the park today.
Kinouwa, tomodachi ga Firipin ni
kimashita.
Yesterday, a friend came to the Philippines.
NI
EXAMPLES: TIME
Hachiji ni okimashita.
I woke up at 8:00
Getsuyoubi ni tesuto ga arimasu.
There is a test on Monday.
Gogatsu ni ikimasu.
I will go in May.
