Learning Japanese particles as a beginner is a MASSIVE pain in the butt! There are LOTS of guides online for how to use them, but they’re not very useful all the time.
Sometimes the explanations are too complicated as they try to explain EVERY possible usage. But it’s mostly difficult because these sites offer no way to practice them. And often the best way to remember how they’re used is to use them yourself.
But how do you use Japanese particles? Making up sentences is tricky as a beginner because you’re often tempted to directly translate from English… then things get confusing.
So what’s the best way to learn Japanese particles?
Ultimately that actually depends on you and how you like to learn. BUT I’ve made something that I hope helps…
JTalkOnline Beginners Japanese Particles Course
I’ve put together a course on Memrise that goes through the first core Japanese particles for beginners. These are the very basic ones that are core to the majority of Japanese sentences.
If you’ve never taken a JTalkOnline Grammar course on memrise then you probably don’t know what’s special about this course.
It doesn’t teach you “は means topic” and that’s IT. It teaches you by explaining the usage of the particle followed by 5-15 flashcards where the particle is used in a real Japanese clause.
For example…
が is ALWAYS used with “to be / to have”
It doesn’t matter if the information is new or already established. が will ALWAYS be used with the verbs あります（ある） and います（いる).
あります = to be/to have (inanimate object)
います = to be/to have (animate object)
I.E ねこがいます = (I) have/there is a cat.
I.E ボールがあります = (I) have/there is a ball.
Then you practice the following sentences:
| いぬがいる | (there) is a dog / (I) have a dog | 犬がいる | |
| せんせいがいる | (there) is the teacher | 先生がいる | |
| いもうとがいる | (there) is (my) little sister | 妹がいる | |
| けいたいがある | (there) is a phone / (I) have a phone | 携帯がある | |
| きがある | (there) is a tree | 木がある | |
| ぎんこうがある | (there) is the bank | 銀行がある | |
| まんががある | (there) is the manga / (I) have manga | 漫画がある | |
The things I LOVE about Memrise:
It’s FREE for everyone!- You can make your own flashcard decks for yourself or others.
- It has spaced repetition programming.
- Allows you to create mems to help you memorize your cards.
I hope you enjoy the Beginners Japanese Particles 1 course!
BONUS: Tofugu also have a great cheat-sheet for these basic particles which is GREAT for beginners.
Beginners Japanese Particles 2 is being planned. Please let me know below or on the Facebook Page what you’d like to see included in the next course!
