Introduction to Particles
は / も / が
Particles are short hiragana that attach to a word to mark its role in the sentence. Swapping one particle for another can change what the sentence actually means.
Topic — は
は marks the topic — "as for X…" Written は (ha), pronounced "wa" when used as a particle. The topic is what the sentence is about; the rest of the sentence is the comment on that topic. Example: 「アリス は がくせい だ」 = "As for Alice, (she) is a student."
Inclusive topic — も
も plays the same grammatical role as は, but adds the meaning "also" or "too". Use it to introduce a second topic that shares the same comment. Example: 「アリス は がくせい だ。 トム も がくせい だ」 = "Alice is a student. Tom is also a student." Used with a negative, も means "not … either": 「トム も がくせい じゃない」 = "Tom isn't a student either."
Identifier — が
が identifies which specific person or thing has the quality. It answers an implicit "who?" or "which?" Example: 「ジョン が がくせい だ」 = "John is the (one who is the) student." Compare with は, which doesn't single anyone out — it just sets a topic.
は vs. が — the key distinction
は says "as for X, the comment is Y" — it presents X as the topic. が says "X is the one that is Y" — it picks X out as the specific identifier. 「わたし は がくせい だ」 = "As for me, I'm a student." 「わたし が がくせい だ」 = "I'm the one who is the student." In English both translate to "I am a student," but the Japanese meanings differ: one introduces a topic, the other identifies the specific subject.
Vocabulary in this lesson
About Japanese particles は, も, and が
Particles are the short hiragana that glue a Japanese sentence together — each one attaches to a word and marks the role that word plays. This lesson introduces the three most important ones: は, which marks the topic ("as for X…"); も, which does the same job but adds "also" or "too"; and が, which identifies exactly which thing has a quality. The contrast between は and が trips up almost every beginner, so it gets its own section. Particles are the heart of JLPT N5 grammar and the foundation for every sentence you build later.
Frequently asked questions
What are particles in Japanese?
Particles are short hiragana that attach after a word to show its grammatical role — topic, subject, object, and so on. They have no direct English equivalent; English uses word order where Japanese uses particles, so 「わたし は」 marks わたし as the topic no matter where it sits.
What is the difference between は and が?
は presents a topic — "as for X, the comment is Y." が identifies — "X is the one that is Y." Ask 「だれ が？」 ("who?") and the answer takes が; talk about something already known and it takes は. This lesson has a whole section on the distinction.
Why is は pronounced "wa"?
When は is used as the topic particle it is pronounced "wa," even though the same character is read "ha" elsewhere. It is a historical spelling — you simply memorise that topic は = "wa."
What does も mean?
も replaces は to mean "also" or "too." 「わたし も がくせい」 means "I am a student too." It marks the same topic role as は while adding the sense that the statement applies to this item as well.
Can I leave particles out?
In very casual speech particles are sometimes dropped, but as a beginner you should include them — they are what tell the listener who did what. Master は, も, and が first; the object and destination particles come in a later lesson.
Credit
These lessons follow the structure, sequence, and grammar-first approach of Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese. We are grateful to Tae Kim for making his guide freely available; the explanations here are our own retelling, and the interactive drills are original to this site.