One of the most important grammar points ① : What’s the Postpositional Particle?

Today’s topic is “Postpositional Particle,” one of the most grammars when you learn Japanese.

We call it “じょし(Joshi),” and it’s quite difficult to talk in Japanese without it. Let me explain what is it.

The representatives are “Te(て), Ni(に), Wo(を) and Ga(が).” As the term “Postpositional” means, we put them after noun, verbs and other words. They means the relationships between words and words.

Since there are many meanings and ways to use them, it’s impossible to say a postpositional particle in an English word.

EN: I went to the station on the run.

JP: Watashiwa hashitte ekini ikimashita. (わたしは / はしって / えきに / いきました)

(私は / 走って / 駅に / 行きました)

The bold parts are Joshi. You can learn that they are placed after another word.

In English, we change the words themselves like “I, my, me and mine,” but in Japanese, we don’t change “わたし(watashi)” but we change Joshi.

For example, “わたしは(watashiwa)” means “I” and “わたしを(watashiwo)” means “me.”

The next topic on Wednesday is also prepositional particle. You’ll learn about postpositional particle in more detail.

I hope you enjoy learning Japanese with us.