🇯🇵 JAPANESE · N5
Japanese particles: は, が, を, に and で
Particles show how words relate to the rest of a Japanese sentence. Learning their function is more useful than memorising one English translation.
Five particles to learn first
は (wa) topic
が (ga) subject/focus
を (o) direct object
に (ni) destination/time/target
で (de) place or means of an action
が (ga) subject/focus
を (o) direct object
に (ni) destination/time/target
で (de) place or means of an action
学校で勉強します。
I study at school.
I study at school.
The action happens at school, so で marks the location of the action.
Do not expect one-to-one translation. Learn each particle inside short sentence patterns.
Continue from the hiragana and katakana guides.
For a broader beginner route, use the Japanese N5 Anki deck guide and the Japanese N5–N1 learning path. If you are comparing study systems, see best Japanese Anki decks.
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Which particle commonly marks a direct object?