Page 70 - Easy Japanese - Learn to Speak Japanese Quickly! (TUTTLE)

GRAMMAR NOTE Object of a Verb and Particle o
An object precedes the verb and is marked by particles wa (contrast), mo
(addition), o (focus is on the object) or no particle at all, depending on the

context.
Hiru-gohan tabemasu. I’ll eat lunch.

Hiru-gohan wa tabemasu. I’ll eat lunch at least (I didn’t
eat breakfast)
Hiru-gohan mo tabemasu. I’ll eat lunch, too.

Hiru-gohan o tabemasu. It’s lunch that I’ll eat.

Particle o typically follows question words (what, whom, which, etc.) while wa
or mo doesn’t. This is because question words represent the focus of the
sentence.

Nani o tabemasu ka. What will you eat?
-Kore o tabemasu. I’ll eat this. (This is the one I’ll
eat.)

Pasokon o tsukaimasu ka. Is it a laptop that you use?

-Iya, pasokon wa tsukaimasen. No, I don’t use a laptop.
Sumaho o tsukaimasu. I use a smartphone.

Note that in the answer above pasokon takes particle wa, while sumaho takes
particle o. This is because sumaho is the focus item being presented for the first

time. On the other hand, pasokon has already been mentioned in the question
and the particle wa here indicates that pasokon is in contrast to sumaho.
When the entire sentence presents new information, which has not yet been
mentioned in the conversation, the object takes particle o, as well.

Nemasu ka. Are you going to bed?
-Iya, terebi o mimasu. No, I’ll watch TV.
Kaigi desu yo. It’s a meeting.

-Ja, taburetto o Then why don’t we use the tablet?
tsukaimasen ka?

GRAMMAR NOTE Time Expressions

Use a time expression with the particle ni “at” to indicate the time when