を

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. ご飯を食べる。▶ —
   I eat rice.
2. 公園を散歩する。▶ —
   I take a walk through the park.

Collocations

Mnemonic

Wo (を) is the Japanese direct-object marker — written hiragana を but pronounced "o" (Old Japanese "wo" later merged with お). The 1946 spelling reform kept particle を as a separate spelling for clarity, same policy as wa は and e へ. Core uses: (1) direct object of transitive verbs ("gohan wo taberu" eat rice, "hon wo yomu" read a book), (2) path of motion verbs ("kouen wo sanpo suru" walk through the park, "michi wo aruku" walk the road, "hashi wo wataru" cross the bridge), (3) point of departure ("ie wo deru" leave home, "densha wo oriru" get off the train). Categories (2) and (3) are learner pitfalls — they do not map onto English "through" / "from" cleanly. The "directional verb + wo" logic frames motion verbs as taking the path / origin as direct object. Chinese has no comparable particle and uses prepositional phrases instead. Wo ranks third in particle frequency after wa and ga.

Quick check

1. Particle in "ie __ deru" (leave home)?

   • wo (departure-point = direct object in Japanese motion verbs)
   • kara (from)
   • ni (direction)
   • de (location)