Particle is the heart of Japanese language. There are many particles, and you need them to form a sentence. This post will introduce briefly 3 particles you need to form up simple sentences.

Particle: は

N は … ＝ N is …

This is the most basic sentence structure that most Japanese language learners start with. Actually, the main part of this structure is N は.  は (written as “ha,” but spelled “wa”) is a particle indicating the subject of the sentence. Japanese particles come after a noun, and it is not always needed to have anything after it.

Examples

• 私は留学生です。(watashi ha gakusei da)＝I am a student
• これは？(kore wa?)＝This is…? (What is this?)

Particle: の

[N1] の [N2] = [N1] ‘s [N2] = [N2] of [N1]

N2 is belong to N1, see examples

• 私の本　(watashi no hon)＝my book
• 部屋の中　(heya no naka)＝in the room
• A会社の高野さん　(A-kaisha no Takano-san)＝Mr./Ms. Takano from company A
• 日本人の友達　(watashi no nihonjin no tomodachi)＝Japanese friend
• 私の日本人の友達の中川さん　(watashi no nihonjin no tomodachi no Nakagawa)＝My Japanese friend, Nakagawa
• 私のものだ、これは　(watashi no da, kore wa) = Mine, this is (this is mine). ** N2 can be omitted, it is not needed that は must come before the description in a sentence.

Particle: か

…か？ = …?

か can be added at the end of sentence to make it become a question. In casual language, it can be omitted (intonation needed to make it sounds like a question).

To answer Yes/No question

はい、… (hai) = Yes ….
いいえ、… (iie) = No. ….

Examples

• Q: あなたの本ですか？(anata no hon desu ka)＝Is this your book?
  A: はい、私のです。(hai, watashi no desu)＝Yes, it’s mine?
• Q: あなたの友達じゃなかったですか？(anata no tomodachi ja nakatta ka?)＝ Wasn’t that your friend? (I thought he was)
  A: いいえ。(iie)＝No.
• これか？(kore ka?)＝So, it’s this?

More examples **何 (nan/nani) = what

• これは何ですか？　(kore wa nan desu ka)＝what is this?
• これは何だ？　(kore wa nan desu ka)＝what is this? **less polite, は can be omitted
• 何だ これは？　(kore wa nan desu ka)＝what is this? **は can be omitted
• 何これ？　(nani kore)＝what is this?
• 何です？　(nan desu-su)＝what is this?