Particles

Japanese expresses all sorts of ideas through particles; they serve as prepositions, case markers, and inflections, among other things (I'm still a beginner, so I'm sure I've barely scratched the surface of particles).

Here are some that I've learned:

no - possessive marker, equivalent of 's, placed after the noun it modifies

For example:

watashi no uchi - my house

Sumisu san no tomodachi - Mr. Smith's friend

ojiisan no inu - Grandpa's dog

o - direct object marker, no English equivalent (English uses word order to express this idea), placed after the noun it modifies

For example:

(watashi) ocha o nomimasu - (I) drink tea

bangohan o tabemashoo - let's eat dinner

to - directly translates to 'and', but can only connect nouns

For example:

Yamaguchi san to watashi - Ms. Yamaguchi and I

keshigomu to enpitsu - erasers and pens

de - can be directly translated as 'at' or 'in', the location in which an action takes place (it looks like there's only one word for this, unlike darn English's seemingly random alternation between 'at' and 'in')

kissaten de ocha nomimashoo - let's drink tea at the coffee shop

tomodachi no uchi de bangohan tabemashita - I ate dinner at a friend's house

Also, pronoun dropping is fun but will take some getting used to. But more on that later. Apparently I was in a writing mood, anyhow.