Japanese particles
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Japanese particles, Script error: No such module "Nihongo".Template:Efn or Script error: No such module "Nihongo".,[1][2] are suffixes or short words in Japanese grammar that immediately follow the modified noun, verb, adjective, or sentence. Their grammatical range can indicate various meanings and functions, such as speaker affect and assertiveness.
Orthography and diction
Japanese particles are written in hiragana in modern Japanese, though some of them also have kanji forms: (Script error: No such module "Lang". or Script error: No such module "Lang". for te Script error: No such module "Lang".; Script error: No such module "Lang". for ni Script error: No such module "Lang".; Script error: No such module "Lang". or Script error: No such module "Lang". for o Script error: No such module "Lang".; and Script error: No such module "Lang". for wa Script error: No such module "Lang".). Particles follow the same rules of phonetic transcription as all Japanese words, with the exception of Script error: No such module "Lang". (written ha, pronounced wa as a particle), Script error: No such module "Lang". (written he, pronounced e) and Script error: No such module "Lang". (written using a hiragana character with no other use in modern Japanese, originally assigned as wo, now usually pronounced o, though some speakers render it as wo). These exceptions are a relic of historical kana usage.
Types of particles
There are eight types of particles, depending on what function they serve.
Script error: No such module "Nihongo".
Script error: No such module "Nihongo".
Script error: No such module "Nihongo".
Script error: No such module "Nihongo".
Script error: No such module "Nihongo".
Script error: No such module "Nihongo".
Script error: No such module "anchor".Script error: No such module "Nihongo".
Script error: No such module "Nihongo".
Note that some particles appear in two types. For example, kara is called a "case marker" where it describes where something is from or what happens after something; when it describes a cause it is called a "conjunctive particle".
List of particles
Index
- bakari
- bakari ka
- bakashi
- dake
- da no
- de
- de mo
- dokoro ka
- e
- ga
- hodo
- ka
- kai
- ka na
- kara
- ka shira
- kedo
- kiri
- kke
- koro/goro
- koso
- kurai/gurai
- made
- made ni
- me
- mo
- mono/mon
- mono de
- mono ka/mon-ka
- mono nara
- mono o
- na and naa
- nado
- nanka/nante
- nara
- ne
- ni
- ni te
- ni wa
- no
- no de
- nomi
- no ni
- o
- sa/saa
- sae
- de sae
- sae...ba/ra
- shi
- shika
- sura
- to
- to ka
- to mo
- tte
- tteba
- wa
- ya
- yara
- yo
- yori
- ze
- zo
- zutsu
Meaning and usage
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Contrast
は wa and が ga
Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote".
に ni and で de
Ni and de can both be used to show location, corresponding to the prepositions "in" or "at" in English. Their uses are mutually exclusive.
Ni, when used to show location, is used only with stative verbs such as iru, "to be, exist;" aru, "to be, exist, have;" and sumu, "to live, inhabit."
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (Nihon-ni sunde iru. "I live in Japan.")
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (Gakkō-ni iru. "I am in school.")
De is used with action verbs to convey the place of action, as opposed to location of being.
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (Gakkō-de neru. "I sleep in/at school.")
- *Gakkō-ni neru. *"I sleep to school," is not usually used.
に ni and へ e
Ni and e can both indicate direction of motion, literally meaning "to" or "at" in English. However, as particles in Japanese directly modify the preceding noun, some Japanese language courses call this the "goal of movement" usage because it marks the goal of the movement. For example, in the sentence Script error: No such module "Lang". (Watashi wa uchi ni kaerimasu or "I'm going back home") the goal of the movement is home (uchi ni). In this sense, e is perhaps closer to English "towards" in terms of use (see example below). As long as ni is used directionally, it is possible to substitute e in its place. Ni used in other senses cannot be replaced by e:
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (Gakkō ni iku. "I'm going to school"), where Script error: No such module "Lang". gakkō, "school," is the destination of Script error: No such module "Lang". iku, "go."
- Gakkō e iku. "I'm going to school," where gakkō, "school," is the destination of iku, "go."
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (Gakkō ni iru. "I'm at school"), where Script error: No such module "Lang". gakkō, "school," is the location of Script error: No such module "Lang". iru, "be;" not a destination.
- Gakkō e iru. *"I'm to school," is not a possible construction since "be" is not a verb of motion.
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (Tomodachi ni au "I'll meet my friends") where Script error: No such module "Lang". tomodachi, "friends," is the indirect object of Script error: No such module "Lang". au, "meet;" not a destination.
- Tomodachi e au *"I'll meet to my friends," which is impossible because "meet" is not a verb of motion.
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (Hon o kai ni itta "I went to buy a book"), where Script error: No such module "Lang". kai ni, "to buy," shows purpose or intent, and is a verbal adverb; not destination.
- Hon o kai e itta *"I went towards buying a book," is not possible because kai, "buying," cannot be a destination.
Indicating direction, using e instead of ni is preferred when ni is used non-directionally in proximity:
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (Tomodachi ni ai ni Kyōto e itta. "I went to Kyoto to meet my friends.")
Ni can not be replaced by e in all uses. It must be used with days of the week as in Script error: No such module "Lang". (Nichiyoubi ni Kyoto ni ikimasu "I will go to Kyoto on Sunday".) where ni is used both to mark the day of the week (日曜日) and the goal of the movement (京都). It is also required with numerical times (but not relative times). For example, ni must be used in the sentence Script error: No such module "Lang". (Juu ichi ji ni nemasu "I will go to sleep at 11 o'clock") to mark the numerical time (十一時) but it is not used with the relative time words like tomorrow (明日), yesterday (昨日), today (今日), last week (先週), next month (来月), etc. For example, in the sentence Script error: No such module "Lang". (watashi wa kinou shigoto ni ikimasen deshita "I did not go to work yesterday") no particle is needed for "yesterday" (昨日), but ni is used to mark the goal of movement (仕事に).
が ga and を o
In some cases, ga and o are seemingly interchangeable. For example, with the tai form, meaning "want to", it is possible to say either of the following:
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (Gohan ga tabetai. "I want to eat rice.")
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (Gohan o tabetai. "I want to eat rice.")
This is because たい (an adjective indicating desire) can either be a helper adjective attached to a verb or a standalone adjective in conjunction with the previous verb depending on context. If the above sentences were broken down, they could be interpreted as
- Script error: No such module "Lang". "Rice is desired to be eaten."
- Script error: No such module "Lang". "Eating rice is desirable."
に ni and と to
Ni and to are sometimes interchangeable in forms like Script error: No such module "Lang". ni naru and Script error: No such module "Lang". to naru. The ni naru form suggests a natural change, whereas to naru suggests change to a final stage.
や ya and と to
Ya is used for incomplete lists, whereas to is used for complete ones.
Historical particles
Script error: No such module "Lang". i was used in Old Japanese and kanbun works. Its meaning is still debated, but has traditionally been considered emphatic.[3]
Differences from English prepositions
Although many Japanese particles fill the role of prepositions, there is often no equivalent in Japanese for English prepositions like "on" or "about". Instead, particles are often used along with verbs or nouns to modify another word where English would use a preposition. For example, ue is a noun meaning "top/up", and ni tsuite is a fixed verbal expression meaning "concerning":
See also
- Adposition
- Chinese particles
- Okinawan particles
- Korean particles
- Japanese counter words
- Japanese grammar: particles
- Japanese verb conjugations
- Sentence-final particle
- Particles of the Kagoshima dialects
Notes
References
Bibliography
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
External links
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