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Nouns (Particles)
Instead of articles, Japanese uses particles (wa, ga, no, o, e, ni, de, ka). These are found after the word they modify.
Anata wa yasashii.
nice (particle) you => you are nice
Wa indicates the topic of the sentence, like "as for" in English.
Like wa, ga marks the subject by coming after it. Ga shows the emphasized, or active subjects. Subtle difference.
Hiroshi san wa sensei desu.
Hiroshi (as for) teacher is. => Hiroshi is a teacher.
no indicates the word before it has possession of the word after it.
Hiroshi wa anata no sensei desu.
Hiroshi (as for) your (belongs to) teacher is. => Hiroshi is your teacher.
Kore wa Hiroshi kara no tegami desu. => This is a letter from Hiroshi.
Kore wa Hiroshi e no tegami desu. => This is a letter to Hiroshi.
o indicates who or what is receiving the action of the verb (direct object indicator).
e indicates the direction or destination of movement.
ni is a particle that also indicates movement, like our English word "to".
de indicates location, like "at" or "in".
ka thrown at the end of a sentence turns it into a question.
Hiroshi wa anata no sensei desu ka.
Hiroshi (as for) your (belongs to) teacher is (?) => Is Hiroshi your teacher?
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