Japanese Particle Practice: 50 Fill-in-the-Blank Exercises (N5–N3) With Answers

The fastest way to fix particles is to produce them, not to recognise them. Below are 50 fill-in-the-blank sentences, grouped by the six choices that actually cause mistakes — は vs が, に vs で, を vs に with movement verbs, に vs を as the doer in passive and causative sentences, と/や/か/も, and the N3 focus particles. Every answer comes with a one-line reason, because knowing which particle was right teaches you nothing if you do not know what it was marking.

I build BetterLingo and I am studying for N2 in Japan, so these are the distinctions I have watched myself get wrong on paper and then get wrong again out loud six months later. They are ordered roughly N5 → N3.

How to use this page

Cover the answer key. It is at the bottom for exactly this reason.
Write or type the particle before you look. Do not think "it is probably に" — commit to it.
For every miss, write one line saying what the particle marks, not just what the right answer was. "に, because 会う takes に" is a rule you keep; "に" alone is a rule you re-learn next month.
Redo the sets you missed a week later, not the same afternoon. Spacing is what moves it from recognised to available.

Why fill-in-the-blank and not multiple choice

Almost every free particle quiz online gives you four buttons. Four options means a 25% floor from guessing alone, and more importantly it hands you the answer set — you are choosing between candidates instead of generating one. That is recognition, and recognition is the skill that fails you the moment you have to open your mouth.

This is not a matter of taste. Roediger and Karpicke's test-enhanced learning work (Psychological Science, 2006) found that retrieval practice beats restudy for long-term retention, and the effect is strongest for tests that require you to produce the answer rather than pick it. Recognition tests also reliably overestimate what you know: you feel fluent during the quiz and blank in the conversation. Producing the particle from nothing is harder, feels worse, and is the point.

The core: what each particle marks

Before the exercises, the one-line jobs. Almost every miss below is one of these being applied to the wrong slot.

Particle	What it marks	Quick test
は	The topic — what the sentence is about. Also contrast.	"As for X, …"
が	The subject as new or selected information.	Answers "who/what?"
を	Direct object, or the path or exit a motion verb covers.	"…s the X"
に	A point: in time, an endpoint, a recipient, an existence location, an agent.	"to / at (a point)"
で	The setting an action happens in: place, means, cause, limit.	"by means of / at (a scene)"
と	An exhaustive list, or a partner.	"X and Y (and that is all)"
や	A partial list.	"X and Y, among others"
も	Addition ("too"), or with a negative, "not even".	"also / even"

The に vs で split is the one worth over-learning: に is a point, で is a scene. 教室にいる is being at a point; 教室で勉強する is an activity playing out in a setting.

Set 1 — は vs が (N5–N4, 10 items)

これ__私のかばんです。
だれ__来ましたか。
（Answering that question:）山田さん__来ました。
私__田中です。
コーヒーは好きですが、お茶__あまり好きじゃありません。
あ、雨__降っていますね。
象は鼻__長い。
私__作った料理を食べてください。
田中さん__どこにいますか。（田中さんの話をしている）
この店はやすい。でも、あの店__高い。

Set 2 — に vs で (N5–N4, 10 items)

教室__勉強します。
教室__田中さんがいます。
七時__起きます。
電車__行きます。
壁__絵をかけました。
公園__子どもが遊んでいます。
いす__座ってください。
日本__住んでいます。
かぜ__学校を休みました。
友だち__会います。

Set 3 — を vs に with movement verbs (N5–N4, 6 items)

This set is the one the four-button quizzes almost never cover, and it is pure verb knowledge: some motion verbs take the place they cross or leave with を, others take the place they arrive at with に.

公園__散歩します。
橋__わたります。
バス__降ります。
バス__乗ります。
家__出ます。
大学__入ります。

Set 4 — に vs を: the doer in passive and causative sentences (N4–N3, 6 items)

The single highest-value particle distinction at N3, and the reason a lot of people stall on 使役受身. In a passive sentence the doer is marked に. In a causative sentence, whether the person made to act takes に or を depends on the verb: transitive verb → に, intransitive verb → を. If you want the full mechanics, see causative vs causative-passive.

私は先生__ほめられました。
弟__ケーキを食べられました。
部長は私__資料を作らせました。
先生は学生__立たせました。
母は妹__泣かせた。
私は友だち__荷物を持たせた。

Set 5 — と / や / か / も (N5–N4, 5 items)

りんご__みかんを買いました。（買ったのはその二つだけ）
机の上に本__ノートなどがあります。
コーヒー__紅茶、どちらにしますか。
兄は学生です。私__学生です。
お金が一円__ありません。

Set 6 — N3 focus particles: しか / だけ / ばかり / さえ (5 items)

千円__ありません。
千円__あります。
弟はゲーム__している。
あの人はひらがな__読めない。
名前__書けば、あとは大丈夫です。

Set 7 — mixed N3 review (8 items)

この道__まっすぐ行ってください。
先生に名前__呼ばれました。
子どものころ、よく母__しかられた。
弟__部屋をそうじさせました。
一度__富士山に登ったことがない。
私は魚__食べられません。（「食べることができない」の意味）
雪__電車が止まりました。
三時間__待ちました。（長かったと言いたい）

Answer key

Set 1 — は vs が

は — これ is the topic; a plain "A is B" statement takes は.
が — a question word (だれ, なに, どれ) as subject always takes が. It cannot be the topic, because you do not yet know who it is.
が — the answer to a が-question keeps が. 山田さん is the selected new information.
は — introducing yourself is a topic statement.
は — contrastive は. Two things are being set against each other; that is は's second job, not が's.
が — noticing something as it happens. New information straight into the sentence.
が — the classic double-subject: 象 is the topic (は), 鼻 is the subject of 長い (が).
が — the subject inside a relative clause takes が, never は. は cannot live inside a modifying clause.
は — 田中さん is already the topic under discussion; you are asking about the location, not selecting a person.
は — contrast again: this shop vs that shop.

Set 2 — に vs で

で — 勉強する is an action; the classroom is the scene it plays out in.
に — いる/ある is existence; the classroom is a point where someone is located.
に — a specific clock time is a point on the timeline.
で — means of transport is a means, and means is で.
に — かける attaches the picture to an endpoint. The wall is where it ends up, not where the scene is.
で — 遊ぶ is an activity; the park is the setting.
に — 座る is arriving at a seated position; the chair is the endpoint. (座っている場所 with で is a different sentence.)
に — 住む takes に. Residence is a fixed point, not an activity scene, which is why 日本で住む sounds wrong to native ears.
で — cause. で covers "because of", as in 事故で遅れた.
に — 会う takes に. The person is the point you converge on. (友だちと会う is also correct and means meeting with them as partners; 友だちで会う is not.)

Set 3 — を vs に with movement verbs

を — 散歩する covers ground; the park is the path traversed.
を — わたる crosses; the bridge is the path.
を — 降りる exits; the bus is what you leave.
に — 乗る arrives into; the bus is the endpoint.
を — 出る exits; the house is what you leave.
に — 入る arrives into; the university is the endpoint.

The pattern: を = path or exit, に = arrival. Learn the verbs in を/に pairs (乗る/降りる, 入る/出る) and the set stops being memorisation.

Set 4 — に vs を: the doer

に — passive. The teacher is the doer of ほめる, and the doer of a passive is marked に.
に — suffering passive. The little brother did the eating; the speaker is affected by it.
に — causative with a transitive verb (資料を作る already has a を), so the person made to act takes に.
を — causative with an intransitive verb (立つ). No other を in the sentence, so the person made to act takes を.
を — 泣く is intransitive; same rule as above.
に — 荷物を持つ is transitive and the を slot is taken, so the friend takes に.

Shortcut that survives the exam: if a を is already in the sentence, the person takes に. Japanese avoids two を in one clause.

Set 5 — と / や / か / も

と — the list is complete: apples and oranges, nothing else.
や — a partial list; など is the giveaway.
か — alternatives, "coffee or tea".
も — "me too". も replaces は/が here; you never write 私はも.
も — 一円も…ない, "not even one yen". も plus a negative is "not even", and it is much more natural than saying 一円がありません.

Set 6 — N3 focus particles

しか — しか always demands a negative verb, and the pair means "only 1,000 yen and that is not enough".
だけ — neutral "only 1,000 yen", with a positive verb. しか carries the regret; だけ does not.
ばかり — "does nothing but play games". ばかり adds the complaint.
さえ — "cannot even read hiragana". さえ picks the most basic case to make a point.
さえ — the さえ…ば pattern: "as long as you write your name, the rest is fine".

Set 7 — mixed N3 review

を — path traversed, same rule as Set 3.
を — the passive here is the indirect/suffering type: 名前 stays the object, 先生 is the に-marked doer.
に — passive doer.
に — causative, transitive verb (部屋をそうじする), so the brother takes に.
も — 一度も…ない, "not even once".
が — 食べられない as a potential form; the thing you can/cannot do takes が.
で — cause: the snow is why the trains stopped.
も — quantity + も = "as much as three hours". This is the も that expresses "that is a lot", and it is a common N3 exam item.

What to do with the ones you missed

Sort your misses into two piles. Rule misses — you did not know that 住む takes に, or that a relative-clause subject cannot be は — are cheap: write the rule once and they largely stay fixed. Verb misses — 乗る/降りる, 会う, 座る — are vocabulary, not grammar, and the fix is to store the particle with the verb from now on. Never learn 会う; learn 〜に会う.

If you missed more than two in Set 4, that is the causative-passive cluster and it is worth a dedicated session rather than more mixed drilling. Related: ところ in all its forms, which is the other N3 point that fragments into six rules people memorise separately when there is only one idea underneath.

The 30-second version

は = topic or contrast. が = new or selected subject. Question words and relative-clause subjects always take が.
に = a point (time, endpoint, recipient, existence, passive doer). で = a scene (action location, means, cause).
Motion verbs: を for the path or exit (公園を散歩する, バスを降りる), に for the arrival (バスに乗る).
Passive: the doer is に. Causative: transitive verb → に, intransitive verb → を. If a を is already used, the person takes に.
しか needs a negative; だけ does not. Quantity + も means "as much as"; 一度も + negative means "not even once".
Practise by producing the particle, not by picking it from four buttons — recognition tests overstate what you actually know.

Next steps

Fifty sentences is one sitting. The gap that stays open after it is the one no static page can close: you need particle practice on sentences you have not already seen the answers to, with something checking what you actually typed. That is what BetterLingo is for — free-form JLPT practice where you write the answer and it gets graded, rather than choosing from a list.