Day 13.

Japanese Grammar

Particle
wa は
 Japanese Word Order

I ate apple

I apple ate

(Omitting “an” to make it simple. The Japanese word order is very

different than that of the English one. As you can see in the 2
sentences the verb positioning in the English and Japanese differ.
In Japanese the verb always goes at the last position unlike
English the 2nd position.
 No Articles like a/an/the

As there are no articles in the Japanese grammar, it is much easier

for you to remember the words without the stress of knowing it’s
gender. Japanese has no grammatical genders, number or
articles (though the demonstrative その, sono, "that, those", is
often translatable as "the"). Thus, linguists agree that
Japanese nouns are non-inflicting: 猫 neko can be translated as
"cat", "cats", "a cat", "the cat", "some cats" and so forth, depending
on the context of the sentence.
 Elimination of subjects

I eat oranges
オレンジ を ⻝べ る / ます
o re n ji wo ta be ru / ma su

Object Particle Verb Formal

In english the subject of the sentence is very import but in the

Japanese language the sentence is constructed without the
subject (I/you). So don’t make mistakes while translating the
sentences form English to Japanese or vice-versa. The ending “ru”
is used in an informal & “ ma su” in a formal situation.
 Particles

What are Particles? Well, by the defi nition, “They are small words
which indicate the reaction of that the word with the sentence.” Now
I’m so sure that, that went like an aeroplane above your head. Let me
make it easier for you.
Let’s consider a sentence “ I'm at my friend’s House” & “I’m sleeping
in my house”. Now in the 1st Sentence I have used “at” & in the 2nd
“in” (Though my object is same in both = House). Well, Thats how we
use particles in Japanese sentences. You basically have to practice to
write/use the correct particle. NOTE: Preposition ≠ Particles.
Just like in English we say “I ate an apple” or “ I want the car”. The
Japanese “Particles” too function the exact same way but that does
not mean the English articles (a/an/the) are Particles in Japanese. I
know that confusing but Japanese and English are like south and
north poles of Langauge. BUT! most importantly, now we have an
idea of what the Japanese particles are and what are its functions.
There are many particles in Japanese but we will focus on only these
3 and then learn the rest later.
In Japanese all the particles have different functions.

は (wa) - Topic marker

か (ka) - Question marker

も (mo) - “Also” or “too”

Let’s now learn all these particles one by one with few examples too.
 1. は (wa) - Topic marker

Noun 1 or I は Noun 2 です
1 2 3 4

What is topic marker ? Topic marker is a grammatical particle used

to mark the topic of the sentence. Now I know you will ask what is
“TOPIC OF THE SENTENCE” so to give you the answer. First of all
understand that we cannot refer English to teach you what topic
markers are because basically we don’t have that in English. To make
this easy we have given formulas to each and every Particles that we
will be learning hence forth. The formula for “Wa particle” is already
mentioned above. Let’s now see how can we use it.
 Noun 1 or I は Noun 2 です
1 2 3 4
わたし は さとう けいこ です
I am Satou Keiko
Watashi wa Satou Keiko desu

I Particle “wa” am

As you can see “Watashi” is the 1st position. “Wa” 2nd position is
the particle used before the Noun 2 “Satou Keiko” 3rd position and
at 4th Position “です” (desu)
 きむら さん は は がくせい です やまだ さん は にほんじん です

Kimura is a student. Mr. Jamada is a Japanese

Kimura san wa gakusei desu Yamada san wa nihonjin desu

Noun 1 “wa” Noun 2 is Noun 1 “wa” Noun 2 is

 1.1. How to negate ?
Noun 1 or I は Noun 2 じゃ / では ありません
1 2 3 4 / 4 5
How to negate a sentence ? Previously we learned how to say “I am
____” or “Kimura is a student” etc. Now let’s see how to say “I am not
____” or “Kimura is not a student”. Please learn the formula and use it
just like we did.

Note1: You either use じゃ ありません (informal) (jya arimasen) or

では ありません(formal) (deva arimasen)

Note2: です (desu) is the positive form & じゃ / では ありきせ is the

negative form.
Its like です is “am/are/is” & じゃ / では ありきせ is “am not/are not/is not”
 Kimura is not a student.

きむら さん は がくせい じゃ ありきせん

Kimura san wa gakusei jya arimasen.

Mr. Jamada is not a Japanese

やまだ さん は にほんじん じゃ ありきせん

Yamada san wa nihonjin jya arimasen.
 2. か (ka) - Question marker

Noun 1 or I は Noun 2 です か
1 2 3 4 5
What is question marker ? A question maker is simply a Hiragana
character, in this case “か” which tells that the sentence is a question.
So in short, Sentence + “か” = a question sentence.

Note: The question marker “か” always comes at the last position of
the sentence. Please make sure that you by heart the above formula
for question maker which almost alike the “Wa” formula besides the
“か” at the last. Let us now see few of the examples to have a better
understanding
 Is Kimura a student. ?

🤔 きむら さん は がくせい です か ?

🤔 Kimura san wa gakusei desu ka ?

👍 はい きむら さん は がくせい です !
👍 Hai Kimura san wa gakusei desu !

Is Mr. Jamada a Japanese ?

🤨 やまだ さん は にほんじん です か ?

🤨 Yamada san wa nihonjin desu ka ?

🇯🇵 はい やまだ さん は にほんじん です !

🇯🇵 Hai Yamada san wa nihonjin desu !

 3. も (mo) - Also, too
Noun 1 or I は Noun 2 です 。Noun 1 or I も Noun 2 です

1 2 3 4 5. 1 2 3 4

How to use も ? So this character means “too or also”. We have

already learned how to form a sentence using the particle “は (wa)”.
Here the only thing you have to do is add the particle “も” in the
second sentence ONLY replacing the particle “は (wa)”.
The 5th position is nothing but a fullstops & then continues the 2nd
sentence.
Let’s see 2 examples with the sentences that we have already seen
while learning the previous particles.
I am a student. Kamura is also a student.

わたし は がくせい です。きむら さん も

がくせい です
Watashi wa gakusei desu. Kamura san
mo gakusei desu

Mr. Yamada is Japanese. Mr. Akimitsu is

also a Japanese.

やまだ さん は にほんじん です。あきみつ

さんも にほんじん です
Yamada san wa nihonjin desu. Akimitsu
san mo nihonjin desu.