Particles are the grammatical glue of Japanese: short words that mark what each part of a sentence is doing.
They are also, disproportionately, what exam questions turn on — because the information that answers a question is usually carried by a particle rather than by a noun.
The core set
| Particle | Marks | Example |
|---|---|---|
| は | Topic | わたしは がくせいです |
| が | Subject | あめが ふって います |
| を | Direct object | ごはんを たべます |
| に | Time, destination, existence | 9じに おきます |
| で | Place of action, means | でんしゃで いきます |
| と | And, with | ともだちと いきます |
| から | From, because | 9じから です |
| まで | Until | 5じまで です |
| までに | By (deadline) | 9じ50ぷんまでに きて ください |
| も | Also | わたしも いきます |
| の | Possession, connection | わたしの ほん |
The one that decides the most questions
までに versus まで.
- まで = until. Continuously, up to that point. Work until five.
- までに = by. A deadline. Arrive by 9:50.
One syllable of difference and a completely different meaning. Exam questions exploit this constantly: a listening clip says the meeting starts at 10:00 but you must arrive by 9:50, and the question asks what time you must arrive. Candidates who hear まで rather than までに answer 10:00 and lose the point.
If you learn one thing from this article, learn this pair.
は versus が
The classic difficulty, and it is genuinely hard — native-level command takes a long time.
For exam purposes, a workable approximation:
- は marks what the sentence is about. It is often contrastive: it implies “as for X, whatever the situation is elsewhere.”
- が marks what the sentence is identifying — new information, or the specific thing that is doing something.
Do not try to master it from rules. Absorb it from volume of input. This is one of the features of Japanese that resists explanation and yields to exposure.
に versus で
Both are translated “at” or “in”, which is why they cause trouble.
- に marks where something exists or where it is going: えきに いきます, へやに います.
- で marks where an action happens: えきで まちます, へやで たべます.
A useful test: is anything actually being done there? If yes, で.
How to learn particles
Never in isolation. A list of particles with English glosses teaches you almost nothing usable. Particles are learned inside sentences.
In contrast pairs. まで / までに. に / で. は / が. The exam presents them as choices, so study them as choices.
Through listening. Particles are short and unstressed, and the exam plays audio once. Recognising までに in a spoken sentence at natural speed is a different skill from recognising it on a page, and only listening builds it.
By diagnosing your errors. When you get a question wrong, ask whether it was the word or the particle. Learners systematically attribute particle errors to vocabulary and study the wrong thing.
Where this fits
For JFT-Basic, particles plus verb forms are essentially the whole grammar requirement. See the grammar you need for JFT-Basic.
Our free practice test explains every answer, which makes it visible when a particle rather than a word cost you the point.