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Basic Japanese Lesson – O and De particles Posted by on Aug 15, 2014 in Grammar

So, this month is the month you will be familiar with basic Japanese grammar.  We are starting with important particles.

So far, we have covered the following particles:

  • Mo (も) – means “too” or “also” in English. Click here to review this.

 

  • Ga(が) & Wa (は) – two confusing particles of Japanese. Click here to review this.

Today’s lesson covers the O (を) and De (で) particles.

First let’s cover the O (を)  particle. This particle has a lot to do with “direct object”.  According to the definition from Wikipedia, “Traditional grammar defines the object in a sentence as the entity that is acted upon by the subject.”. So, basically direct object is the entity that occurs right after the verb.  In Japanese, the direct object is followed by the particles O(を). 

Let me show you some examples:

  • Watashi wa okashi o mottekimasu. 私は、おかし  持ってきます。(わたしは、おかし  もってきます。)- I will bring the snacks.

 

  • Watashi wa pan o kaimasu.  私は、パン  買います。(わたしは、パン  かいます。)- I will buy the bread.

 

  • Oto-to wa manga o yondeimasu. 弟は、漫画  読んでいます。(おとうとは、まんが  よんでいます。)- My brother is reading a comic book.

 

  • Kino- watashi wa tomato o kaimashita. 昨日 私は、トマト  買いました。 (きのう わたしは、トマト  かいました。)- Yesterday, I bought tomatoes.

 

The next particle is also useful one where you can use to mark the location of activities.  In English, this will be expressed by “at” or “in”.

Examples are:

  • Ani wa ginko de hataraite imasu. 兄は、銀行  働いています。(あには、 ぎんこう  はたらいています。)- My older brother works at the bank.

 

  • **Watashi wa sono inu o ko-en de mitsukemashita. 私は、その犬を公園  見つけました。(わたしは このいぬを こうえん みつけました。)- I found the dog at the park.

**Notice that there are two particles in discussion are used in the above sentence.

 

The particle De(で) does not just mark the location of the activities but also marks the means by which the action is performed. For example, tools and methods.  This is similar to “with”, “on”, “in”, “by” in English.

Examples are:

  • Watashi wa haha to denwa de hanashimashita. 私は、 母と 電話  話しました。(わたしは、ははと でんわ  はなしました。)- I spoke to my mom on the phone.

 

  • Kyou wa kuruma de kokoe kimashita. 今日は、車  ここへ来ました。(きょうは、くるま  ここへきました。)- I came here by car today.

 

  • Watashi wa nihongo de hanasunoga sukidesu. 私は、日本語 で 話すのが 好きです。(わたしは、 にほんご  はなすのが すきです。)I like speaking in Japanese.

Try using these particles in your Japanese sentences. Try creating as many sentences as possible for your practice and let me know if you have any questions!

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About the Author: keiko

Born and raised in Japan. She currently lives in U.S. with her husband and two kids.


Comments:

  1. Zach:

    Hi! I saw a sentence yesterday that confused me with を. It was something like:

    「私の頭の上を魚が泳いでいますした。」

    It meant “a fish was swimming above my head.” My 先生 said it was something like 走る where you would say 「公園を走る」 (I ran in the park). BUT she said ポールを泳ぐ was not correct, and that I should use で for that sentence.

    Do you know when you would use で with motion verbs? I get very confused about it.

    Thank you!
    -Zach

    • keiko:

      @Zach Hi Zach,

      Great question!
      “で” particle is mainly used to mark its location and means (tools and methods). These are the two main reasons to use “で” particles.

      However,”を” particle is also used to mark its location in certain sentences such as yours! I know it gets pretty confusing, but in your example sentence “私の頭の上を魚が泳いでいました。”, “を” particle is used to mark the location, which is “above my head”. “を” here can be easily replaced with “で” in this case. To express the same exact meaning as “A fish was swimming above my head” in Japanese, we can also say, “私の頭の上で魚が泳いでいました。”

      This goes into a bit more detail, but the difference here is that “で” particle is the particle mainly used to mark “location”, therefore, when we say “私の頭の上で魚が泳いでいました。”, it indicates to the listener that a fish was swimming “mainly” above my head, not so much anywhere else. It stresses more about its location… So anytime you are using the words that relate to the “location” and “means (tools or methods)”, you would want to use “で” particle.

      Hope this helps!

      Thanks,
      Keiko