A Study in Particles

[Dreams]

Forgive me, I'm kinda bored. I thought I'd open a thread on teaching people about Japanese particles and see if anyone was interested. I'm going to start off just by posting all the particles and their BASIC uses, both in-sentence and end-of-sentence. From there, if people want to discuss them, we can just all answer questions and help with grammar patterns and examples.

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In-Sentence Particles

These are those lovely one or two syllable words that act as subject or object markers, or show place, direction, use, etc. I'm quite sure anyone who's even looked at a sentence in Japanese has seen them. They often have very elastic translations into English, or cannot really be translated at all.

WA - は
Denotes the subject of the sentence.
ex) "Watashi wa onnanoko da."
ex) "I am a girl."
WA points out that "I" am the subject of the sentence. By hacking 'Watashi wa' off, the sentence could be misunderstood. It could then be read as "You're a girl", "She's a girl", or "Geishaboy's a girl". But sticking a subject on to make the sentence clear requires the use of WA. Not too much trouble, eh?
*Since WA is written as hiragana HA, you may see people write HA instead, but it should be pronounced WA.

GA - が
Also denotes subjects of sentences, but puts emphasis on the thing that takes action.
ex) "Michiko ga hataraku."
ex) "Michiko is (the one who's) working."
GA is not easy to understand. It can often replace WA, but there are certain instances in which you should only use GA. GA is useful for non-human subjects doing actions too, where it would sound awkward to use WA:
ex) "Hoshi ga kagayaku."
ex) "The stars shine."

MO - も
Subject indicator meaning "also"/"too".
ex) "Ryukon mo onnanoko da."
ex) "Ryukon is also a girl."
MO can replace WA or GA in order to add an inclusive feel to the subject. MO also other uses, like "and" between nouns.

O - を
Shows the object of a verb.
ex) "Kuruma o katta."
ex) "(I) bought a car."
The object, in this case 'kuruma' (car), precedes O, which is then followed by the verb 'katta' (bought). There's not much more to it than that. Some verbs take particles other than O, but O is generally the one to use.
*Since O is written as hiragana WO, you may see people write WO instead. It's more commonly pronounced O, but sometimes sounds like WO.

NO - の
Possessive particle, among other things.
ex) "Watashi no neko da."
ex) "It's my cat."
When NO is added onto a subject (like 'watashi'), or a name, it shows that whatever follows belongs to the subject.

NI - に
Shows the action of a verb.
ex) "Ryukon ni kuruma o katta."
ex) "(I) bought a car for Ryukon."
Adding the indirect object (Ryukon) plus NI in front of 'kuruma' shows the direction of the verb. NI can usually be translated or thought of as "to".

E - へ
Shows a verb's direction, going towards something
ex) "Amerika e iku."
ex) "(I'm) going to America."
Pretty much self-explanatory... shows a direction toward something.
*Since E is written as hiragana HE, you may see people write HE instead. It's more commonly pronounced E, but sometimes sounds like HE.

DE - で
Shows where an action takes place
Shows how an action was done (method).
ex) "Inu wa niwa de suwaru."
ex) "The dog is sitting in the garden."
Here, it conveys where the action is taking place by being read as "in". "In the garden" = "niwa de". It still gets followed by the verb and preceded by the place. An example of a method would be:
ex) "Enpitsu de egaita."
ex) "I drew it in/with pencil."
Same pattern as before, but different meaning.

KARA - から
Shows action away/from something
Means "because" and sometimes "since".
ex) "Tegami wa Nihon kara da."
ex) "It's a letter from Japan."
A bit self-explanatory, like the opposite of E.
ex) "Samui kara, uwagi o haita."
ex) "Because it was cold, I wore my coat."
The sentence can be translated in the natural English order too ("I wore my coat because it was cold"), but the reason will always come first in Japanese, followed by KARA, and then followed by the solution/subject.

TO - と
Connects nouns, meaning "and". Used when the speaker has a complete list of things.
ex) "Ringo to budou o taberu."
ex) "I eat apples and grapes."
It can also be used to mean "with":
ex) "Laura to anime o mita."
ex) "I watched anime with Laura."

YA - や
Connects nouns in the sense of "and", but leaves an unfinished list.
Is often paired with the word "nado" at the end of the list, meaning "things like that".
ex) "Kaado ya ningyou nado o atsumaru."
ex) "I collect trading cards and dolls and things like that."

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End of Sentence Particles

These come at the ends of sentences, obviously, to either show emphasis, emotion, or get agreement, etc.

YO - よ
(both genders)
Emphasis, like an exclamation point.
ex) "Gakkou ga iya yo"
ex) "I hate school!"

KA - か
(both genders)
Turns sentence into a question.
ex) "Naze gakkou ga iya ka?"
ex) "Why do you hate school?"

NE - ね (or) NEE - ねえ/ねぇ
(both genders)
To get agreement.
ex) "Gakkou mo iya ne/nee?"
ex) "Don't you hate school, too?"
It also adds emphasis:
ex) "Atsui desu ne!"
ex) "It certainly is hot (out)!"

NA - な
(male, informal)
Emphasis on a decision/opinion.
ex) "Kare wa aho na."
ex) "He's a jerk."
This NA also happens to be the plain negative imperative, which is basically an informal order that is not restricted only to males:
ex) "Kuru na!"
ex) "Don't come (in)!"

NAA - なぁ/なあ
(both genders)
Shows emotion or wishful thinking.
ex) "Umi e ikitai naa."
ex) "I want to go to the ocean..."

NO - の
(women/kids, informal)
For emphasis or an explanation.
ex) "Hai, sore o shita no."
ex) "Yes, I made that."
Or an informal question, derived from "~no desu ka":
ex) "Kaeru no?"
ex) "Are you going home?"

WA - わ
(female)
For emphasis, or softening a suggestion/surprise.
ex) "Ima kaeru to omou wa."
ex) "I think I should go home now."

SA - さ
(male)
Emphasis.
ex) "Wakatta sa."
ex) "(Of course) I understood."

ZO - ぞ
(male)
To denote opinion or judgment.
ex) "Katasugiru zo."
ex) "It's too difficult."

ZE - ぜ
(male, informal)
Adds strong emphasis, gains agreement, a bit like NE.
ex) "Gakkou imaichi da ze."
ex) "School sucks, (right?)!"

MON - もん
(I think this is just female, not sure though)
Adds reasoning or emphasis, sounds kind of childish.
ex) "Honto ni UFO o mita mon!"
ex) "I really did see a UFO! (you gotta believe me!)"

N'DA / N'DESU - んだ / んです
(both genders)
Adds slight emphasis, can be polite (n'desu) or informal (n'da).
ex) "Nani o suru n'da?"
ex) "What the heck are you doing?"

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Mm'kay. Not sure if all of those are truly considered particles, and I'm not sure if I forgot any that should be considered particles. So on. Anyone can jump in here... :3