Lesson Review

Particles

The か particle

The question marker:

The かka particle is used to mark a question. It works like a question mark. Remember to put a full stop at the end of the sentence still.
例えば:tatoeba/ For example

彼kare はwa 学生gakusei ですかka。
Is he a student?

'Or':

You can use the か particle to ask 'or'.

This grammar can be used with nouns and verbs, however for now we will just look at nouns.
Generally, か follows the first noun.

例えば:たとえば

ラーメンかそば。。。
Ramen or Soba...


There can still be another か in the sentence, for example, to ask 'Is this Ramen or Soba', we need go finish the sentence with 'ですか'.

例えば:たとえば

この食べ物たべもの/ For example はラーメンかそばですか。
Is this food Ramen or Soba?


You can use the particle more than once if there is more than one 'or'.

今日、自転車じてんしゃ か 車くるま か 電車でんしゃ で学校に行きますか。
Today will you go to school by bicycle or car or train?


If you ever struggle with this, imagine the sentence with just one option first to get the general structure.

例えば:たとえば

この 教科書きょうかしょ は日本語ですか。
Is this textbook Japanese?
この 教科書きょうかしょ は日本語か中国語ですか。
Is this textbook Japanese or Chinese?

Let’s Practice

Get your kanji notes ready and read the dialogue, then answer the questions on the dialogue in the following style, using Kanji and/or Hiragana:

Q: Are you a student?

A: いいえ、私は学生です。

1. どこに行きましょうか
。
Text Dialogue

Let’s Practice

Rearrange the sentences to SOV by dragging them into the empty rectangles in. Once correctly placed, the row will turn green and move to the next round!

Sentence Order Game
reira
desu
gakusei
ka
wa

は particle

  • The "は" particle is often referred to as the "topic" particle.

  • It clarifies the main point of discussion.

  • It can be more than one word:

    例えば:

    私のお母さんは四十八さいです。

    Here, the topic is ‘my mother’.

  • The "は" particle is often used when introducing new information or contrasting different elements.

    例えば:

    私は学生です

    Here, "I" is the topic of the sentence.

が particle

  • The "が" particle is often referred to as the "subject" particle.

  • It is used to mark the subject of a sentence, the doer of the action.

  • Unlike "は," the "が" particle doesn't carry the same sense of introducing new information or contrasting elements. It simply identifies the subject.

  • 例えば:

  • 彼が来ました。

  • Here, "he" is the subject who performed the action of coming.

は vs が

I like to eat apples.

I also like to eat apples.

Does your brother like apples?

No, he likes pears.

I like to eat apples. Here, we're talking about your liking for apples. Since you're the subject and the focus is on your preference, we'll use "が" (ga) to mark you as the doer of the action.

私はりんごが好きです。 (Watashi wa ringo ga suki desu.)

  1. I also like to eat apples. In this sentence, you're continuing the topic from the previous sentence (your liking for apples). "Also" emphasizes that you share the same liking as mentioned earlier. We'll use "は" (wa) to maintain the focus on the topic (your liking for apples), and "も" (mo) to indicate "also."

    私はりんごも好きです。 (Watashi wa ringo mo suki desu.)

  2. Does your brother like apples? Here, the focus is on your brother's liking for apples. Since the question is about your brother's preference, we'll use "は" (wa) to indicate the topic and "が" (ga) to mark your brother as the subject of the question.

    あなたのお兄さんはりんごが好きですか？ (Anata no oniisan wa ringo ga suki desu ka?)

  3. No, he likes pears. In this response, you're negating the idea that your brother likes apples and providing an alternative preference. Similar to the previous sentence, we'll use "は" (wa) to indicate the topic (your brother's preference) and "が" (ga) to mark "pears" as the subject.

    いいえ、彼は梨が好きです。 (Iie, kare wa nashi ga suki desu.)

I’m still struggling with は vs が.

When I studied Korean (which has similar particles), the particles were only explained to us briefly. Instead, they focused on when to use them with which grammar points. For example; telling us to say ‘があります’ rather than ‘はあります’.

This isn’t to say there’s no situations where you’d use the は particle here, but the majority of the time, it will be the が particle.

This method is perfect for those who have spent hours upon hours researching when to use each, but just can’t quite get it right. Learn the grammatical rules, such as ‘が’ commonly being with ‘すき’, and you’ll be correct more often than not.

Now, pair this with consuming Japanese media and general studying. Hearing the particles used properly will help you use them correctly, simple. This will be a gradual improvement, but an improvement nonetheless.

Good news! We've already noted that です covers Is/am/are, but did you know that in Japanese, you don't have to pluralise nouns?

Let's explain with examples:

In English, we say: They are students.
The noun 'students' has been made into a plural. However in Japanese, unless its essential for context, we can just leave it as it is!

彼ら karera は wa 学生gakusei です。
They are students.

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