Stop Typing Particles One at a Time
The particles は を が に で と も are the drumbeat of every Japanese sentence. Here is how to type them without breaking stride.
Yesterday you typed 60 words cold, with no chart. Today we put those words back into sentences — and the thing that decides whether a sentence comes out smooth or stuttering is the particles.
Why particles are the hard part
A word like がくせい（がくせい / student）is one block. You type it and move on. But a particle is a single kana that sits between two blocks, and your hands have to fire it and keep going. That is where the rhythm breaks.
Watch what happens to a beginner typing わたしはがくせいです（わたしはがくせいです / I am a student）. They type わたし, stop, hunt for は, type がくせい, stop, hunt for です. Seven decisions instead of one motion.
The fix is not more speed. It is fewer decisions.
は is typed ha, not wa
This is the one people trip on first. The particle は（は / topic marker）is pronounced wa, but you type it as ha. Your keyboard does not care how it sounds.
- わたしはがくせいです — I am a student
- これはペンです（これはペンです / this is a pen）
- きょうはあついです（きょうはあついです / it is hot today）
So the rule for your fingers: は the particle is always H-A. No exceptions, no thinking.
を is typed wo
を（を / object marker）is the particle with no other job. It only ever marks an object. On most keyboards you type W-O and it comes out as を.
- みずをのみます（みずをのみます / I drink water）
- ごはんをたべます（ごはんをたべます / I eat a meal）
Because を is rare, your hand does not yet know the motion. Drill it alone until W-O lands without a glance.
The three that share a row: が に で
These come up constantly, and they are all easy once you stop pausing.
- が（が / subject marker）— G-A. ねこがいます（ねこがいます / there is a cat）
- に（に / direction, time）— N-I. えきにいきます（えきにいきます / I go to the station）
- で（で / place of action, means）— D-E. うちでたべます（うちでたべます / I eat at home）
Notice に and で both answer "where" but do different jobs. に marks where you go. で marks where you do something. If you are in your city heading somewhere, that destination takes に.
と and も: the short ones
- と（と / and, with）— T-O. パンとたまご（パンとたまご / bread and eggs）
- も（も / also, too）— M-O. わたしもいきます（わたしもいきます / I will go too）
Both are two keystrokes. Both are so common that they should feel like breathing.
The drill: sentences, not characters
Here is the actual practice. Type each line five times, and do not stop inside a line. If you fumble, finish the sentence, then start over.
- わたしはがくせいです。
- えきにいきます。
- みずをのみます。
- うちでごはんをたべます。
- ねこがいます。
- わたしもいきます。
Then chain them. Type line 1, then line 2, without lifting your rhythm. The goal is that は and を and に stop being separate keystrokes in your mind and become part of the word before them.
Read it out loud too
Typing and reading are the same skill here. When you see は in a chat message, your eye should already know it is wa. When you see を, you should already know an object is coming.
The particles are the grammar. Type them enough and you will start to feel the sentence shape before you finish typing it.
If you are in your country typing on a laptop, the same rules apply. The keyboard layout changes; the particle logic does not.
Tomorrow we take the kana you now know and point them at something new: katakana. Your own name, coffee, bread, a phone. It turns out you already have most of the pieces.
None of this is being saved
Signed in, we would remember every character you have looked at — and write you reading you can actually get through, built from exactly those.
Remember this 要点
The particle は is typed H-A even though it sounds like wa — and every other particle is just two keystrokes you can drill into one motion.
Today's words 語彙
Three questions 確認
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Create free account Log inYou have been typing hiragana for twelve days. But what happens when you need to type your own name, or order a coffee in a chat? Those are not hiragana — and it turns out you already know how to type them.
Read day 13 →