Japanese Particles Explained (Without the Boring Stuff): Ni, De, He & More | Nihongo to English EP. 25

In Episode 25 of Nihongo to English, hosts Michael Allen (CPA) and Michelle MaliZaki dive into one of the most essential — and most confusing — parts of Japanese grammar: particles. They break down を、で、に、and へ in the most un-boring way possible, with real examples, laughs, and zero judgment. Along the way, they recap Michelle's wildly successful Stationery Park festival (85 tables! Vendors from New York and Japan! Someone left their Cartier rings behind!), debate the life choices of hikikomori, set a brand new Daruma goal, and somehow end up discussing what it means to gaman when there's pee running down your leg. Just another episode of bilingual chaos — and somehow you learn.

Have a question or comment? Email us at NihongotoEnglishnoshow@gmail.com

Theme Jingle by Michelle MaliZaki.

Nihongo to English 第25話では、ホストのマイケル・アレン（CPA）とみしえる・まりザきが、日本語学習者が最もつまずきやすい文法のひとつ、助詞を取り上げます。を、で、に、への使い方を、リアルな例文と笑いたっぷりにわかりやすく解説。さらに、みしえるが主催した大盛況のステーショナリーパーク（出店85テーブル！ニューヨークや日本からもベンダーが参加！カルティエの指輪を忘れた人まで！）を振り返りつつ、引きこもりの人生哲学を議論し、新しいだるまの目標を設定し、なぜかガマンの話で盛り上がります。いつものバイリンガルカオスをお楽しみください。気づいたら、ちゃんと学べてます。

ご質問やご感想は NihongotoEnglishnoshow@gmail.com までどうぞ！

テーマジングル：みしえる・まりザき

Transcript

0:00

Hado. Hello. Hello. Welcome to another episode of Nihongo To English. No show. The podcast. The show. The Nihongo. The English. I am one of your hosts, Michael Allen, CPA. And um the other host, Michelle Maizaki, no CPA. No CPA. Uh Ohio Gozimas, Konichiwa, Konbanwa, whatever time of day it is that you're listening. We're back to have fun English and Japanese kaiwa. So. Yeah, kaiwa. Ah, I don't know what happened. Ah, it's warm today. It's warm today, yeah. Hi, atok uh. I've seen that now. The a lot of the Japanese English content that I get on my feed is all about like, how do you say warm? And then the guy goes, Atata kai. And then they go, How do you say hard katai? How do you say shoulder kata? How do you say my hard shoulder is warm? It's like katai kataga atata kai Yeah. Yeah, so they'll be like katak katai kataka atata kakunata. Yeah, and like that's the video. You know, so there you go. We just did it live on the Hongo Toy Moscow show. We did it, so now we can go viral. Katai kataka atunate. Yeah. So that's it. All we have to do is create Hayakuchi Kotaba. That's interesting because usually when two words are put together, like hayai kuchi, usually the second word becomes gucci, but not hayakuchi. Why? Why? Why? Well, don't they have that for like a dry sake? Isn't it like Kara Gucci? And kalakuchi, not kalagucchi. Yeah. But then there's I know there was a place in Kyoto, it was like Yamaguchi. Or or or the past Kyoto. Yamaguchi. That's where I was born. You know, Gucci, the Italian brand. I was born Gucci. Gucci. Or like a baby. Gucci Gucci Ka. And then there was also um near the my friend's house in Kyoto, there was a m a little mountain you could climb there that was called Kudamaguchi. Oh, Kudama Gucci. Or i I think it was. I mean, that sounds like car. Yeah, yeah. But it doesn't have to be like car. It could be a more old-fashioned. Oh, but Kulama Tengu. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Because it was like very tengu-oriented. Oh, so it's the Kulama area? I don't know. Yeah, well yeah, it wasn't sorry, it wasn't Kuduma Gucci. It was Kudama Gucci. Yeah. Yeah, so there's a coochie that went Gucci. Yeah, I was just thinking like katakoto. Uh-huh. Like if you only speak a little bit, katakoto, it's not katagoto. Oh, I speak Spanish. Katakoto. Just a little bit. Kata piece. Koto words. Oh, I see. Yeah, but kata, it's not katagoto. So instead of saying uh skoshi. Scoshi. Nihongo. Shambereu. You can say katakoto dake. Kata kotodake. Alright. That's like is that like kata like the hard again? Kata koto, like a hard word? Kata is like the piece, I think. Oh, like katachi, like a shape? Yeah. No, not not katachi. Kata like kata could be direction too, like I don't know. I don't know either. I just I mean a lot of them sounded metaphorical, like they could work. Like if it was hard like katai, then it's like, oh my m my mouth is hard, like it's hard to say words. Then it was like, oh, it's katati like a shape, then it's like, oh like a a piece, like you said, like I speak to I don't know. I like using my imagination to make