The Japanese Particle から(kara): Hopefully, you’ve seen by now how useful particles can be in Japanese when you know the proper way to use them. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at から (kara) and how to use it.
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The Japanese Particle から(kara)
から might not have as many uses as particles like に or で, but it does have some that you can use in everyday conversation.
Japanese Particle から(kara):Starting Point or Source
The first use of から I ever learned was to mark a starting point. This is really useful when giving directions or describing location, but it definitely has some other uses as well.
Saying something like
“Koko kara…” (ここから…) means “From here…
” Saying “Osaka kara” (大阪から) means “From Osaka.”
However, the starting point can also be a time, such as
“Rokuji kara” (六時から) or “Starting from six.”
It can also mark the source of something. If you received something from Tanaka-san, you could say
“Tanaka-san kara moratta” (田中さんからもらった).
You could also use に in this situation, but から works just as well.
It’s helpful to think of this use of から as very linear. A lot of times, it can be paired with まで (made), which will get its own article too. In my head, I think of から as a starting point and まで as the ending point. Not every situation needs both, but it still helps to think of it as something more tangible like that.
Japanese Particle から(kara): After
This second use is kind of an extension of the first, but we’ll talk about it separately because it has a pretty specific structure.
If you tack から on after a verb in the -te form (tabete, oboete, yonde, etc.), it can mean “after.” Let’s look at some examples for this one.
We could say
“Hon wo yonde kara nemashita” (本を読んでから寝ました).
This would be translated as “After I read a book, I fell asleep.” Notice how the tense of both verbs are based on the last verb in the sentence. If you changed it to “Nemasu” (寝ます), it would change the sentence to either “I sleep” or “I will sleep.” The verb attached to から is always in that -te form, regardless of the tense of the sentence.
This is very similar to our first use, just because you can still think of から as a starting point. It’s just marking an entire verb phrase as your starting point, instead of a location, time, or source.
Japanese Particle から(kara): Because
から is one of the easiest ways in Japanese to say “because.” Let’s look at how this is different with the same example sentence from before.
If we change our sleeping example to
“Hon wo yonda kara nemashita” (本を読んだから寝ました),
it changes the meaning to “I fell asleep because I read a book.” Notice how the only thing that changed was the verb “yomu.”
The verb in this structure needs to be either in dictionary form or past tense. It’s a really subtle difference that can completely change the meaning of what you’re trying to say.
This one can also feel a bit weird sometimes because it can be attached to plain forms of “desu.” So you can say things like
“Gakusei datta kara” (学生だったから) or “Because she was a student.”
There’s also the phrase “da kara” (だから), which I’ve heard people use a lot to mean “And so…” at the beginning of a sentence. It’s kind of like “And because of that…”
or “Because she was a student.” There’s also the phrase
“da kara” (だから)
, which I’ve heard people use a lot to mean “And so…” at the beginning of a sentence. It’s kind of like “And because of that…”
There’s another word for “because” that can be a bit difficult to differentiate from から, and that is ので (node). Sometimes they are interchangeable, but sometimes they aren’t. The most basic difference is that から puts emphasis on what comes before it, while ので puts the emphasis at the end.
You’re also going to hear から more because it is used with volitional things (things you can control), such as recommendations, commands, or just personal opinions. Personally, I usually default to から just because its uses are more in line with how most of us use the word “because.”
Particles are Good
Learning about all the different particles can sometimes feel tedious, but it really is necessary to help your Japanese be the best it can be. Even the tiniest differences with particle use can open up a whole other way for you to express yourself in Japanese.
Particles are also key to being able to speak in long, flowing sentences. Being able to use particles like から will help you sound more fluent, and more educated as you speak with native Japanese speakers. Trust me, people will be impressed if you manage to use complex sentences in your Japanese, and it will be a lot nicer to listen to.
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