Use what you know about Ukrainian noun roles to read Japanese particles.

The idea

Ukrainian often marks roles with case endings and prepositions: у бібліотеці can express location and другові a recipient. Japanese particles follow nouns: で marks where an action occurs or the means; に marks a destination, recipient or location of existence. を marks a direct object, は a topic and が a subject. These are functions, not one-to-one translations.

Patterns to compare
ParticleFunction
でaction location or means
にexistence location, destination or recipient
をdirect object
はtopic
がsubject

Examples

  • 私わたしは図書館としょかんで本ほんを読よみます。I read a book at the library.
  • 図書館としょかんに友達ともだちがいます。A friend is at the library.
  • 友達ともだちに手紙てがみを書かきます。I write a letter to a friend.
  • 電車でんしゃで学校がっこうに行いきます。I go to school by train.
  • 猫ねこが庭にわにいます。A cat is in the garden.
  • 今日きょうは家いえで日本語にほんごを勉強べんきょうします。Today I study Japanese at home.

Read-aloud uses a synthetic Japanese voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.

Watch out

The Ukrainian phrase у бібліотеці can accompany both reading and being there. In Japanese choose で for reading but に with います; は and が also depend on context.

Try it yourself

  1. 図書館としょかん＿本ほんを読よみます。

    Show answer or example answer

    で

    で marks the library as the place where reading happens.

  2. 図書館としょかん＿友達ともだちがいます。

    Show answer or example answer

    に

    に marks the location of a person with います.

  3. 友達ともだち＿手紙てがみを書かきます。

    Show answer or example answer

    に

    に marks the friend as the recipient of the letter.

  4. 電車でんしゃ＿学校がっこうに行いきます。

    Show answer or example answer

    で

    で marks the train as the means of travel.

Use it today

Fill each blank with the particle that fits the action, existence, recipient or means.