Particles can be a difficult subject to master in any language. Particles subtly
mark the word they follow and indicate the association between that word and the
rest of the sentence. (Unlike in English, in Japanese, a particle never precedes
the word it modifies. Particles always follow the modified word.) Although Japanese
particles may not always have a correlation in English, they are essential to the
coherency of a sentence in Japanese.
Let’s begin by looking at the most common uses of the three most common Japanese
particles.
Wa
You learned a little about the particle subject marker “wa” (which is written as
“ha” in hiragana) in the Sentence Structure section. At the time, you learned that
“wa” marks the subject of the sentence. This is true, but it’s more common to say
that “wa” marks the topic of the sentence.
Why the emphasis on topic? In Japanese, the particle “ga” can also be a subject
marker, so saying that "wa” marks the topic of a sentence makes it easier
to understand the difference.
The topic of a Japanese sentence is a subject that is already well known in the
context. While many Japanese will omit the subject entirely should the subject be
known, if they choose not to omit the subject, they will likely use the topic subject
marker “wa,” which is the most frequently occurring subject marker.
Kinou imoutosan ni aimashita. Kanojo wa anata mitai desu nee.
“Yesterday
I met your younger sister. She looks like you, doesn’t she…”
Notice that the subject of the first sentence, “I,” is omitted but implied. The
subject of the second sentence “she” (“kanojo”) is marked with “wa” to indicate
that it is a pre-referenced topic. (In the sentence before, the speaker is talking
about the sister.)
Sometimes you will see a sentence with “wa” translated as “As for [topic]…” For
example:
Watashi wa sono hon wo yomimashita.
“I read that book” or “As for me, I read
that book.”
The latter translation implies that while the speaker read the book,
others should have read it as well. (Perhaps a class of students who did not do
their homework.)