Reading Particles and Word Boundaries

Use particles to find word boundaries and read short beginner sentences in chunks.

Recognize the most common beginner particles quickly.Break a line into phrases instead of reading one character at a time.Use particles as landmarks when there are no spaces.

Guided study

Particles mark jobs

Japanese sentences usually do not use spaces, so particles help you see what each part is doing. When you notice a particle, the sentence becomes much easier to chunk.

わたしはがくせいです。

I am a student.

は marks the topic.

ほんをよみます。

I read a book.

を marks the thing being read.

ねこがいます。

There is a cat.

が marks what exists.

Practice guides for this lesson

Use these hub pages to connect this lesson with related reading practice and grammar paths.

N5 Japanese grammar lessons

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Japanese particles practice

Use the Japanese particles practice guide to connect this lesson with related reading practice.

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Japanese grammar practice

Use the Japanese grammar practice guide to connect this lesson with related reading practice.

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