There are eight types of particles, depending on what function they serve.Note that some particles appear in two types. For example, kara is a "case marker" where it describes where something is from or what happens after something; when it describes a cause it is a "conjunctive particle".
Ni and de can both be used to show location, corresponding to the prepositions "in" or "at" in English. Their uses are mutually exclusive. Ni, when used to show location, is used only with stative verbs such as iru, "to be, exist;" aru, "to be, exist, have;" and sumu, "to live, inhabit."
日本に住んでいる。
学校にいる。
De is used with action verbs to convey the place of action, as opposed to location of being.
学校で寝る。
**Gakkō-ni neru. *"I sleep to school," is not usually used.
に ''ni'' and へ ''e''
Ni and e can both indicate direction of motion, literally meaning "to" or "at" in English. However, as particles in Japanese directly modify the preceding noun, some Japanese language courses call this the "goal of movement" usage because it marks the goal of the movement. For example, in the sentence 私はうちに帰ります the goal of the movement is home. In this sense, e is perhaps closer to English "towards" in terms of use. As long as ni is used directionally, it is possible to substitute e in its place. Ni used in other senses cannot be replaced by e:
学校に行く。, where 学校 gakkō, "school," is the destination of 行く iku, "go."
*Gakkō e iku. "I'm going to school," where gakkō, "school," is the destination of iku, "go."
学校にいる。, where 学校 gakkō, "school," is the location of いる iru, "be;" not a destination.
*Gakkō e iru. *"I'm to school," is not a possible construction since "be" is not a verb of motion.
友達に会う。 where 友達 tomodachi, "friends," is the indirect object of 会う au, "meet;" not a destination.
*Tomodachi e au *"I'll meet to my friends," which is impossible because "meet" is not a verb of motion.
本を買いに行った。, where 買いに kai ni, "to buy," shows purpose or intent, and is a verbal adverb; not destination.
*Hon o kai e itta *"I went towards buying a book," is not possible because kai, "buying," cannot be a destination.
Indicating direction, using e instead of ni is preferred when ni is used non-directionally in proximity:
友達に会いに京都へ行った。
Ni can not be replaced by e in all uses. It must be used with days of the week as in 日曜日に京都にいきます where ni is used both to mark the day of the week and the goal of the movement. It is also required with numerical times. For example, ni must be used in the sentence 十一時に寝ます to mark the numerical time but it is not used with the relative time words like tomorrow, yesterday, today, last week, next month, etc. For example, in the sentence 私は昨日仕事に行きませんでした no particle is needed for "yesterday", but ni is used to mark the goal of movement.
が ''ga'' and を ''o''
In some cases, ga and o are interchangeable. For example, with the tai form, meaning "want to", it is possible to say either of the following:
ご飯が食べたい。
ご飯を食べたい。
Similarly, 好き suki, a na adjective meaning "liked", can take either ga or o:
君が好きだ。
君を好きでよかった
に ''ni'' and と ''to''
Ni and to are sometimes interchangeable in forms like になる ni naru and となる to naru. The ni naru form suggests a natural change, whereas to naru suggests change to a final stage.
や ''ya'' and と ''to''
Ya is used for incomplete lists, whereas to is used for complete ones.
Historical particles
い i was used in Old Japanese and kanbun works. Its meaning is still debated, but has traditionally been considered emphatic.
Many Japanese particles fill the role of prepositions in English, but they are unlike prepositions in many ways. Japanese does not have equivalents of prepositions like "on" or "about", and often uses particles along with verbs and nouns to modify another word where English might use prepositions. For example, ue is a noun meaning "top/up"; and ni tsuite is a fixed verbal expression meaning "concerning":
