Particle Man, Particle Man

One big omission from our Japanese lessons so far has been an overview of all commonly used Japanese particles and their meanings in various contexts. We've already learned that particles like が and の have a different meaning when they follow a noun or pronoun, or when they follow a verb.
Particles can actually occur in four different locations:

• After a noun or pronoun
• After the final form of a verb; that is, any verb form that can be placed at the end of a sentence
• After the -て form of a verb
• After the stem of a verb

No one particle can occur in all four of these positions, but a lot of particles can occur in at least two of these positions. So without further ado, here are the particles, where they can occur, and what they mean.

が

After a noun or pronoun

Grammatical subject of the sentence.

After a final form

Mild contrast, can be translated 'but', but very often as 'and'.

は (pronounced 'wa')

After a noun or pronoun

Topic of conversation, 'as for...'

の

After a noun or pronoun

Possession (John's book), origin (John from Daihatsu), material (wooden building), apposition (John, a doctor, ...), grammatical subject of dependent clause

After a final form

Turns the verb into a noun, e.g. 'Smoking is bad for you', 'To dance the Funky Chicken is my lifelong dream'.

を (pronounced 'o')

After a noun or pronoun

Grammatical object of a verb

から

After a noun or pronoun

from; rarely after

After a final form

because

After a -て form

after

と

After a noun or pronoun

with (as in 'accompanying'), and (between nouns)

After a final form

if, when (implying possibility); that (when used with verbs like to say, to think, to remember)

や

After a noun or pronoun

and (implying an incomplete set: 'Books and papers and more stuff like that'.

に

After an noun or pronoun

to, for (indirect grammatical object, e.g. Tim in 'I gave Tim a book'); in, on (a place); by (with a passive sentence, e.g. 'His work was studied by many people'); direct grammatical object with verbs like become, seem, meet etc.

After a verb stem

in order to (ex. えいがを みに, 'in order to see a movie': the み is the stem of みる or みます, to see).

へ (pronounced 'e')

After a noun or pronoun

to, into, towards

で

After a noun or pronoun

with, using, by means of; at; similar to 'being'

か

After a noun or pronoun

either... or...

After a final form

question mark

も

After a noun or pronoun

even, too; both... and...; nobody, nowhere etc. (with negative verb)

After a -て form

even if; whether... or...; neither... nor... (with negative verb)

では (pronounced 'dewa')

After a noun or pronoun

Grammatical subject of a negative verb

けれど or けれども

After a final form

Strong contrast: but (stronger than が).

ながら

After a verb stem

while, even though

なら

After a final form

if (hypothetical)

とき

After a final form

when ('at the time that')

のに

After a final form

although

ので

After a final form

since, because