Understanding the Japanese particle を (wo): A step-by-step guide to using direct objects

The particle を (wo) marks the direct object of a sentence—the thing that is somehow affected by the verb of a sentence. Using it is simple and 100% regular: simply tack it right onto the end of a sentence's direct object.

If you know what a particle an direct object is, congrats! Those two sentences are all you need to know to use this Japanese particle.

If not, then you're in the right place. In this article, we'll get into:

Anyway, let's quickly cover a bit of background information.

What is a grammatical particle?

For all intents and purposes, a grammatical particle is just a fancy linguistic word for "sign" or "marker". When you attach a grammatical particle to a word, you are marking the grammatical function of that particular word in this particular sentence.

Particles are kind of like stickers. You identify the thing you want to mark with a sticker, and then you attach the sticker directly to it, like it's a laptop cover from the 2010s. But instead, it's a word in a sentence.

Alternatively, you might think about prepositions in English. When you want to say where something takes place, you attach a preposition before the location:

Japanese particles work in basically the same way, except they attach directly onto the end of a word.

For example:

One more:

Japanese has many different particles, and in this blog post we'll look in detail at the particle を (wo), which is used to mark direct objects.

What is a direct object?

A direct object is the part of a sentence that is somehow affected by the verb. While it's a bit difficult to put into words, as a native English speaker, you've got an intuitive feel for what a direct object is.

In the below example sentences, I've underlined the direct object:

A direct object is the food being eaten, the book being read, the thing being learned, and anything else that falls into that same sort of category.

If verbs are what you do, direct objects are what you do the verb to.

The pronunciation of を: O or Wo?

In romaji, を is written as "wo", so you might understandably think that it's pronounced like "whoa". 800 years ago or so, you would have been right.

Having said that, you may hear を pronounced as "whoa" in:

How to use the Japanese particle を in sentences

Of all of the Japanese particles, を (wo) may be the easiest to use.

For example, let's translate those three sentences from the above section about direct objects:

Bam! That's it. That's how it works.

More advanced usages of を (if a sentence has you confused, check these out)

The above is your bread and butter. To recap:

Unfortunately, as you explore more Japanese, you'll quickly stumble into a few situations that end up making a liar out of me. Let's explore several of them.

(1) を with phrases

In English, descriptions normally branch off to the right of a noun:

In Japanese, descriptions pretty much always come before the noun they modify:

And this left-branching quality of Japanese descriptions means that you can very conveniently mark an entire phrase as being a direct object, as we've just done.

(2) を at the end of a sentence

The "standard" structure of a Japanese sentence is subject→object→verb, and since を attaches to the object, it will normally go somewhere in the middle of a sentence. Sometimes, though, you'll see を at the end of a sentence.

This happens in some fixed phrases:

And also to make quick clarifications, if the object of a verb isn't clear:

And you'll also see sentences inverted (called an anastrophe) for dramatic effect. For example, at 1:22 in this song by the Japanese band Supercell, we hear this verse:

Placing the object 想いを after the verb 聞いてよ gives this command a more longing, pleading quality. "To these feelings of mine listen, please! Without being surprised."

(3) を being omitted

In especially casual speech, some particles, including を, may be dropped. I recommend you not do this for the time being, as particles can't always be omitted. Learn the rules before you start breaking them!

Having said that, don't be terribly surprised if you see things like this:

(4) を in the "ところを" grammar point

We won't go too far into this one since it's a grammar point for the JLPT N1, the highest level of the Japanese proficiency test, but you can read about it on your own if you want.

When を appears with ところ in the grammar point ところを, it's being used for one of two reasons:

(5) を with verbs of motion

You'll sometimes see を used with verbs that involve some sort of motion, like 行く (いく, "to go")　 or 歩く (あるく, "to walk").

We're actually going to talk about this in more detail in the next section, so scroll down a bit!

Some grammar points where を gets replaced with other particles

We've covered a lot of ground, but so far, an を has been an を; what you see is what you get

Unfortunately, sometimes を can become が or は, too.

This happens with:

(1) Transitive and intransitive Verbs, or when を becomes が and は

So, remember how we said that you do verbs to something, and that thing is the direct object? And that a direct object is the pizza you're eating, or the book you're reading?

Verbs that you do to something, like:

Are all what are known as transitive verbs.

In contrast, there are some verbs that just happen:

You cannot arise, sleep, laugh, remain, or depart a pizza.

Verbs that cannot take direct objects, such as these, are called intransitive verbs.

Unfortunately, many English verbs actually actually bat for both teams:

This isn't the case in Japanese. Transitive and intransitive verbs have separate forms:

(2) Contrast, or when を becomes は

We cover this in much more detail in the は (wa) section of our deep dive on Japanese particles, but some particles, including を (wo), will become は (wa) in order to show contrast.

Compare these two examples:

You can think of what's happening here as either を (wo) becoming は (wa), or as は (wa) pulling double duty and taking on some of the qualities of を (wo). Whatever makes more sense to you.

(3) Potential and passive verbs, or を becomes が

In Japanese, the potential form of verbs (saying you have the ability to do something) and the passive form of verbs (saying that something was done) often are spelled the exact same way.

For example, when 食べる (たべる, "to eat") is put into the 食べられる (たべられる) form, it can mean either:

And in both of these cases, it's necessary to change を to が.

(4) Verbs in the ~たい form, or one more case where を becomes が

To say that you want to do something in Japanese, you must conjugate a verb to its ~たい form.

In other words:

Becomes:

That looks pretty straightforward, and for all practical purposes, it is.

But, for whatever reason, technically, you're supposed to use が with verbs in the ~たい form. More specifically, it used to be incorrect to use を with verbs in the ~たい form.

You don't need to worry about this because younger Japanese people have begun using を with verbs in the ~たい form, but you should know that many older speakers feel that this is incorrect and not acceptable. Know that you'll see both particles used, but don't worry about it too much.

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In a nutshell...

To use the Japanese particle を (wo), just tack it directly onto the end of a sentence's direct object—the thing that's being affected by a verb.

While this basic use of を (wo) is pretty straightforward, it does get used in a few ways you might not expect, and sometimes it can be replaced by other particles.

Importantly, you don't need to memorize all of this stuff.

As you consume more Japanese content, and you see thousands of sentences that feature を (wo), you'll gradually develop a feel for what it means and how it works.

Good luck!