こんにちは。ゆうこ先生です。This lesson on Japanese particles is one of the
most popular lessons on my channel.
I received so many comments and likes.
ありがとうございます。
It means many learners struggle with Japanese particles, so today, I want to give you another
lesson on particles.
Before we get into today's lesson, let's quickly review the functions of these particles.
The particle を marks a direct object.
が marks things you like, subject of existence or a specific topic within the main topic
of the sentence.
These three particles mark places.
で marks a place of action, this に marks a destination, and this に with darker blue
marks a place of existence.
These three particles connect nouns.
と is used when you say A and B. や is to say A and B, for example.
か is to say A or B. For the particle とやか, you can watch this lesson to learn
more.
I will leave the link to the lesson in the description box below.
Ok, today in this lesson, I'm going to add four more particles.
は marks the main topic of the sentence.
This と marks a living thing that you do something together with.
This で marks a means or tool that you use to perform the action.
And here is another function of に.
に also marks a time expression.
Just keep in mind that you use this に only for the time expressions you would mark with
a preposition in English.
So, "on Sunday" is にちようびに and "at 5:00" is ごじに in Japanese.
But you don't use this に for the time expressions such as "today, tomorrow, yesterday, every
day, or every week."
You don't mark those expressions with a preposition in English, right?
You don't say "on today" or "at yesterday."
Likewise, we don't mark such time expressions with the particle に.
Let's add these particles to the list for today's lesson.
I'm going to show you how we use these particles in Japanese sentences.
では、はじめましょう。
I'm going to start with the destination marker に.
日本に行きました。
"I went to Japan."
Simple, right?
Now, let's say I don't want to end the sentence here and want to keep going.
In that case, I have to
change this verb 行きました to the TE Form, 行って and continue like this.
日本に行って、京都で神社やお寺を見ました。
わかりますか？Do you understand the meaning?
そうですね。The sentence means, "I went to Japan and saw the shrines and temples in
Kyoto."
This や indicates shrines and temples are just examples of what this person saw in Kyoto
and automatically implies he or she saw other things too.
And I'll continue with this sentence.
京都は景色がきれいでした。
Now in this sentence, Kyoto is treated as the main topic, so you are saying "Regarding
Kyoto" or "As for Kyoto," 京都は.
And 景色 "scenery" is the specific topic about Kyoto in this sentence.
That's why you mark it with が.
京都は景色がきれいでした。
These are the functions of each element marked by a particle.
日本に行って、京都で神社やお寺を見ました。京都は景色がきれいでした。
Let's put these particles back, and here is the next sentence.
次の文章です。
Now, I'm going to use the particle に to mark a Place of Existence.
うちにいちごがたくさんありました。
"I had a lot of strawberries at home."
Now, I want to use this statement as a reason.
うちにいちごがたくさんあったので、
This ので marks a reason and in Japanese, we add it after the reason statement.
So, this part means "Because I had a lot of strawberries at home."
And, here is the outcome or conclusion.
いちごジャムといちごソースを作りました。
わかりますか？
そうですね。The sentence means "I made strawberry jam and strawberry sauce because
I had a lot of strawberries at home" or "I had a lot of strawberries at home, so I made
strawberry jam and strawberry sauce.
The wording in English doesn't matter as long as you clearly indicate which part of the
sentence is the reason.
And these are the functions of each element marked by a particle.
うちにいちごがたくさんあったので、いちごジャムといちごソースを作りました。
Here is the next sentence. では、次の文章です。
Now, I'm going to use the particle に to mark a Time Expression.
毎週土曜日に、友達と山か湖に行っています。
わかりますか？
そうですね。The sentence means, "Every Saturday, I go to the mountain or lake with
a friend."
By the way, for "every Saturday" we say "every week Saturday" in Japanese.
And here, you can also use 行きます instead of 行っています.
However, 行っています sounds more natural in this context since this is what this person
does every Saturday and TE います indicates a repeated action.
You can watch this lesson to learn how to use TE います to express repeated actions.
I'll leave the link to the lesson in the show-more section below.
One more thing that I want to point out.
In spoken language, this い in TE います is often dropped and Japanese people usually
say 行ってます instead of 行っています.
So, I'm going to use this version in this lesson.
Let's continue with another sentence.
アウトドアが大好きです。
"I love the outdoors" or "I love outdoor activities."
These are the functions of each element marked by a particle.
毎週土曜日に、友達と山か湖に行ってます。アウトドアが大好きです。
Now, let's add another element to the first sentence.
毎週土曜日に、友達と山か湖に車で行ってます。
Do you understand the meaning of the sentence now?
そうですね。This word, 車 is the transportation means for you to go to the mountain or lake
and that's why it's marked by the particle で.
"Every Saturday, I go to the mountain or lake with a friend by car."
毎週土曜日に、友達と山か湖に車で行ってます。
And if you want to specify whose car, you can add something like this too.
私か彼の車で.
"By my car or his car."
It's supposed to be like this originally, by the way, but you don't have to repeat the
same part "の車" because it's obvious in the context.
So, I dropped the first one.
Of course, it's ok to leave it there too.
毎週土曜日に、友達と山か湖に、私か彼の車で行ってます。
どうでしたか？How was today's lesson?
I hope it was helpful for you to understand these basic particles better.
So, these are the particles and their functions we covered in today's lesson.
Please remember they are not the only particles that we have in Japanese, nor the functions
of these particles.
The best way to learn particles is to use them in context.
Practice completing a sentence like this with correct particles.
I have Particle exercises on my channel and you can find all of them on a Playlist.
Use the link smilenihongo.com/ParticleYT to go to the Playlist.
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