For a quick review, as you may know the Japanese particle に (ni) is generally used for the direction of an action, the location of existence (with verbs like aru/iru), and also for the doer of a passive action. On the other hand, the particle を (o) is used for the direct object of a verb, as in whatever that verb is acting upon (like the apple that you are eating, etc.).
Also, just as a reminder, the verb 教える (oshieru) means “to teach” or “to tell”. With that in mind, you can see the above two particles used with this verb in sentences like the following:
- 子供達に日本語を教えています。(kodomotachi ni nihongo wo oshiete imasu)
- (I/we) are teaching Japanese to (the) children.
Here the “ni” is used to describe the direction of the action “teach”, and “o” is used to describe the object of teaching (what is being taught), in other words the Japanese language.
However, the other day I was reading a nonfiction book and ran across a sentence with grammar like the following:
- 僕は普段から子供を教える仕事をしています。 (boku wa fudan kara kodomo o osheiru shigoto o shite imasu)
- I normally do a job involving teaching children.
While the grammar if this sentence is a bit more complex, I want to focus on the particle used with “oshiete” here, specifically:
- 子供を教える (kodomo o oshieru)
At first this surprised me, since it sounds like the person is teaching about children, in other words they are teaching the subject of children (maybe a class about child upbringing?).
But after I thought about it some more and did some research, I realized this is a valid use. The difference is that instead of treating what is being taught as the direct object, it treats who is being taught as the direct object.
Actually, if you compare this to Engilsh it’s not that strange after all. It turns out that you can often use English “to” in place of Japanese “ni”, at least when we are talking about direction of an action. For example, in the first example sentence in this article we ended up with “…teaching Japanese to children”. But what about the “o” direct object particle? That doesn’t really have a parallel in English, so we just omit it (as in “I teach Japanese”).
Going along those lines, notice that in English both of these sentences are correct and natural.
- I teach Japanese
- I teach Japanese people
Both of these only describe the direct object of the verb “teach”, but notice there is no “to” anywhere. The first case (“I teach Japanese”) maps to 僕は日本語を教える, how we normally expect to see “o” used with “oshieru”, but the second (“I teach Japanese people”) maps to 僕は日本人を教える, and bears a close resemblance to the apparently unusual grammar I am discussing in this article, whereby the direct object is not what we teach, but who we teach to (similar to 子供を教える).
Anyway, the good news is that when you are making your own sentences, you can generally rely on “ni” for who receives the teaching, and “o” for what you are teaching. It will never be incorrect to use those particles in that way. Here’s another example of that basic usage:
- 先生は理科をみんなに教えたいって言いました。 (sensei wa rika o minna ni oshietai tte iimashita.)
- The teacher said he/she wanted to teach science to everyone.
One more thing I should mention: You may have noticed I used both 子供 (kodomo) and 子供達 (kodomotachi) for “children”. This is because while Japanese generally does not have a plural form like the “s” in English, in select cases you can use suffixes like “-tachi” or “-ra” to denote plurality. Having said that, I think it would be a little unnatural to say:
- 僕は普段から子供たちを教える仕事をしています。 (boku wa fudan kara kodomotachi o osheiru shigoto o shite imasu)
The reason is that when speaking generally about children, I feel that “kodomo” sounds more natural than “kodomotachi”. But if you are speaking about a specific group of children, the above could still be used.