A noun particle is any morpheme that denotes or marks the presence of a noun.[1] They are a common feature of languages such as Japanese and Korean.
Main article: Korean postpositions |
Korean noun particles are postpositional, following the word they mark, as opposed to prepositions which precede the marked word.
Korean noun particles include the subject particle i/ga (이/가), the object-marking particle eul/reul (을/를), and the topic-marking particle eun/neun (은/는), all of which show allomorphy.[2]
Main article: Japanese particles |
Like Korean, Japanese noun particles follow the noun being marked, and can serve any of several functions in a given sentence.
昨日
Kinō
スーパー
sūpā
へ
e
行きました。
ikimashita.
Yesterday, I went to the supermarket.
In this example, "e" is the noun particle for "sūpā" ("supermarket"). This particular noun particle denotes direction towards a place, being "supermarket."
昼ごはん
Hirugohan
は
wa
私
watashi
が
ga
ピザ
piza
を
o
食べた。
tabeta.
I ate pizza for lunch. lit. As for lunch, I ate pizza.
The three noun particles ("wa," "ga," and "o") all serve different functions: