Here are a few sentence examples for you to take a look at: When は is being used as a particle, it is read as “WA”. The particle は(WA) is a particle used to mark a topic marker. Let’s start with something that both beginners and intermediate level Japanese students have encountered before the particle は(WA). So, is it こんにちは or is it こんにちわ? There is no fool-proof way to determine it but here are some tips that can hopefully help you tell the difference. Good luck and 頑張ってください(Ganbatte kudasai: Do your best!)! This blog can hopefully help you get a better understanding on は and how to properly use it. ![]() For this blog, we will be focusing on why は is read two different ways and why there’s a わ as well. A few examples can be how we say “read” but then the past tense for that is “read(pronounced as red)”… or how there’s a silent “s” in “island”. Similarly enough to English, the Japanese language has words that aren’t exactly read as how they are spelled. 2.2 The particle は Combined with other particles. ![]() Personally, I usually default to から just because its uses are more in line with how most of us use the word “because. You’re also going to hear から more because it is used with volitional things (things you can control), such as recommendations, commands, or just personal opinions. The most basic difference is that から puts emphasis on what comes before it, while ので puts the emphasis at the end. Sometimes they are interchangeable, but sometimes they aren’t. There’s another word for “because” that can be a bit difficult to differentiate from から, and that is ので (node). , which I’ve heard people use a lot to mean “And so…” at the beginning of a sentence. Or “Because she was a student.” There’s also the phrase “da kara” (だから) There’s also the phrase “da kara” (だから), which I’ve heard people use a lot to mean “And so…” at the beginning of a sentence. This one can also feel a bit weird sometimes because it can be attached to plain forms of “desu.” So you can say things like “Gakusei datta kara” (学生だったから) or “Because she was a student.” It’s a really subtle difference that can completely change the meaning of what you’re trying to say. The verb in this structure needs to be either in dictionary form or past tense. It changes the meaning to “I fell asleep because I read a book.” Notice how the only thing that changed was the verb “yomu.” If we change our sleeping example to “Hon wo yonda kara nemashita” (本を読んだから寝ました), から is one of the easiest ways in Japanese to say “because.” Let’s look at how this is different with the same example sentence from before. It’s just marking an entire verb phrase as your starting point, instead of a location, time, or source. This is very similar to our first use, just because you can still think of から as a starting point. If you changed it to “Nemasu” (寝ます), it would change the sentence to either “I sleep” or “I will sleep.” The verb attached to から is always in that -te form, regardless of the tense of the sentence. ![]() This would be translated as “After I read a book, I fell asleep.” Notice how the tense of both verbs are based on the last verb in the sentence. We could say “Hon wo yonde kara nemashita” (本を読んでから寝ました). If you tack から on after a verb in the -te form (tabete, oboete, yonde, etc.), it can mean “after.” Let’s look at some examples for this one. This second use is kind of an extension of the first, but we’ll talk about it separately because it has a pretty specific structure. Not every situation needs both, but it still helps to think of it as something more tangible like that. In my head, I think of から as a starting point and まで as the ending point. A lot of times, it can be paired with まで (made), which will get its own article too. It’s helpful to think of this use of から as very linear. You could also use に in this situation, but から works just as well. If you received something from Tanaka-san, you could say “Tanaka-san kara moratta” (田中さんからもらった). It can also mark the source of something. However, the starting point can also be a time, such as “Rokuji kara” (六時から) or “Starting from six.” ![]() Saying something like “Koko kara…” (ここから…) means “From here… ” Saying “Osaka kara” (大阪から) means “From Osaka.” This is really useful when giving directions or describing location, but it definitely has some other uses as well. The first use of から I ever learned was to mark a starting point. Japanese Particle から(kara): Starting Point or Source から might not have as many uses as particles like に or で, but it does have some that you can use in everyday conversation. 2 Japanese Particle から(kara):Starting Point or Source.
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