Are you struggling with Japanese Particles? They are confusing, aren’t they?
What Are Particles?
Particles are grammatical markers that are attached to a word and indicate how the word functions in Japanese sentences. They are written either one of two Hiragana letters, and pretty much meaningless as isolated entities.
For instance, the Particle NI に doesn’t mean anything by itself. Once it added to a place name like Nihon (Japan), however, and you say Nihon-NI, now it’s marking Japan as the destination. The closest translation of Nihon-NI will be “to Japan” in English.
They are crucial elements in the Japanese language and many times, hardest for many to master. Firstly, there are so many of them. Secondly, one Particle can mark several different things.
I often receive comments from my students that Japanese Particles are confusing and they are struggling.
Japanese Particles Cheat Sheet
Since I received so many requests from my students, I have created Japanese Particles cheat sheet for you to download. These are the most basic Particles that many schools and textbooks cover during the first year of Japanese learning.
Let me know where I can send it (PDF, 2 pages). Hope you find the cheat sheet helpful!
Can You Answer These?
After you downloaded the cheat sheet, try Japanese Particles practice in the videos below. In each video, I give sentences with a blank for a Particle to fill in like this. Do you know the answer to this particular question, by the way? Would you the Particle NI に or DE で for the sentence to make sense?
I added each sentence Romaji readings so you do not need to know Hiragana letter to try these exercises. Choose a right Particle to complete each sentence. Let’s see how well you do!
Particle Practice 1 – で DE or に NI? (3:33)
Dictionary of Japanese Particles
If you are looking for a handy dictionary to quickly look up Japanese Particles, I recommend these two. The explanations for each Particle are not in depth, but they are handy to grasp the core meaning with example sentences.
All About Particles: A Handbook of Japanese Function Words
By Naoko Chino
Kodansha International
A Dictionary of Japanese Particles
By Sue A. Kawashima
Kodansha International
I hope the information in this blog post will help you understand Japanese Particles better. Leave me comments if you have any questions. Happy learning!
裕子先生（ゆうこせんせい）Yuko-sensei
ゆうこせんせい (Yuko-sensei) is a professional Japanese teacher with over 20 years of teaching experience in the USA. She now offers online courses for learners worldwide. Learn More…
Japanese particles cheat sheet verbs, noun particles please simple just learning
Shelley-san,
If you want a list of basic verbs, you can join my Mini-Course 3. https://smilenihongo.com/MC3
You can also check other free materials here. https://smilenihongo.com/japanese-worksheets-free
Hope this helps!
Konbanwa sensei..,How to learn easy and fast way in nihongo conversation.thank you for your reply
Alfred-san, Konnichiwa.
If you are over 13 years old, I’m afraid there is no fast and easy way to learn Japanese conversation unless you live in Japan and force yourself to speak in Japanese every single day. As an adult, first learn the basic grammar, understand how speech styles work in Japanese culture (which one you need to use as an adult in a certain situation) and then listen to lots of Japanese (real conversation, music, drama, movies, etc.) until your brain starts processing Japanese sounds. This is going to take a while so you need to be patient with yourself. I hope this helps!