In short

These six little words do most of the connecting work in a Japanese sentence: へ (e) points you toward a destination, と (to) means “and” or “with”, も (mo) means “too”, の (no) glues two nouns together, and から / まで (kara / made) mark a starting point and an end point in time or space. Each one follows the word it applies to, never precedes it.

The rule

へ - direction. Attach へ to a place noun to say “toward, to”: Place + へ + motion verb. It is written with the kana へ but pronounced e, exactly like え - one of only three particles with a spelling that does not match its sound (は = wa, へ = e, を = o).

へ vs に. With 行きます (ikimasu, go), 来ます (kimasu, come) and 帰ります (kaerimasu, return) both particles work and the difference is small: へ stresses the direction you head in, に stresses the destination you arrive at. Everywhere else に owns the job alone - arrival into something (部屋に入ります heya ni hairimasu, I enter the room), the landing point of an action (椅子に座ります isu ni suwarimasu, I sit on the chair), the recipient of giving. So へ is the narrower of the two: for destinations に does everything へ does and much more. The one job that belongs to へ alone is taking の to modify a noun - 母への手紙 (haha e no tegami) is fine, 母にの手紙 is impossible.

と - three jobs.

• Step 1 - “and” between nouns. Noun + と + Noun: パンと卵 (pan to tamago, bread and eggs). This と is exhaustive - it claims the list is complete. For an open, “for example” list Japanese uses や (ya), which arrives later.
• Step 2 - “with” (companion). Person + と + verb: 友達と行きます (tomodachi to ikimasu, I go with a friend).
• Step 3 - the partner of a reciprocal verb. Verbs that need two sides mark the other side with と, never を: 結婚します (kekkon shimasu, marry) and けんかします (kenka shimasu, quarrel) take と and nothing else. 会います (aimasu, meet), 話します (hanashimasu, talk) and 約束します (yakusoku shimasu, promise) take either particle: に is the plain one-way version you meet first (友達に会います tomodachi ni aimasu, I meet a friend), and と adds the sense of both sides doing it together.

Never use と to mean “and” between sentences or adjectives. In its “and” job と links nouns only. English “cheap and delicious” cannot be 安いとおいしい; Japanese joins predicates with verb and adjective forms taught later. (と does attach to whole clauses in its other jobs - quotation and the conditional - but those are separate particles that happen to share the kana, and they come much later.)

も - “too, also”. も is not a case particle but a replacing particle. It kicks out は, が and を and stands in their place, but it politely queues up after に, で, と, から and まで. So 私は -> 私も, 本を -> 本も, but 京都に -> 京都にも. Doubled up, 〜も〜も means “both … and …” in a positive sentence and “neither … nor …” with a negative verb.

の - the noun connector. Noun1 + の + Noun2 makes Noun1 describe Noun2: possession (私の本 watashi no hon, my book), affiliation, material, topic (日本語の先生 nihongo no sensei, a teacher of Japanese). Chains are normal and read left to right, each の narrowing the next: 東京の大学の学生 (Tōkyō no daigaku no gakusei, a student at a Tokyo university). の is also a pro-form standing for an omitted noun, like English “one”: 赤いの (akai no, the red one), 私の (watashi no, mine).

から / まで - from and to. から marks a starting point and まで an end point, in time (九時から kuji kara, from nine) and in space (駅から eki kara, from the station). They pair up freely: 東京から大阪まで (Tōkyō kara Ōsaka made, from Tokyo to Osaka). Watch the difference between まで (continuing up to a point) and までに (a deadline: be done by that point).

Compound particles. To hang a へ/から/と phrase on a noun, add の: への (to), からの (from), との (with): 母への手紙 (haha e no tegami, a letter to my mother), 友達からのメール (tomodachi kara no mēru, an email from a friend), 先生との話 (sensei to no hanashi, a talk with the teacher).

Forms & patterns

The six particles at a glance:

も: what it replaces and what it follows:

から / まで in time and space:

の joining nouns, and standing in for one:

Examples

Common mistakes

• 京都え行きます。 -> 京都へ行きます。 (Kyōto e ikimasu.) - the direction particle is pronounced e, but it is always written with the kana へ, never え.
• 私はも学生です。 -> 私も学生です。 (Watashi mo gakusei desu.) - も replaces は, が and を; it never stands next to them.
• 山田さんもに電話をしました。 -> 山田さんにも電話をしました。 (Yamada-san ni mo denwa o shimashita.) - with に, で, と, から the order is fixed: case particle first, も second.
• 日本語先生です。 -> 日本語の先生です。 (Nihongo no sensei desu.) - two separate nouns cannot simply sit side by side; の has to join them. (Fixed compounds such as 日本語学校 nihongo gakkō are single words and are learned whole.)
• レポートは金曜日まで出します。 -> レポートは金曜日までに出します。 (Repōto wa kin’yōbi made ni dashimasu.) - a deadline takes までに; plain まで would mean the handing-in continues right up to Friday.

Tips

• Remember the three “misspelled” particles as a set: は = wa, へ = e, を = o. Inside ordinary words the same kana are read normally (はな hana, flower), so it is only the particle use that shifts.
• Think of も as a suitcase that swaps places with は/が/を but stacks on top of everything else - にも, でも, とも, からも. Saying it out loud in that order fixes it fast.
• English “and” is one word; Japanese splits it. Use と for nouns and only nouns, and expect や for “things like A and B”. Joining two sentences needs a verb form, not a particle.
• Do not translate の as “of” and stop there. The order is the mirror image of English: the modifier always comes first, so “a teacher of Japanese” is 日本語の先生, and reading a chain left to right (東京の大学の学生) tells you exactly which noun is the real head - the last one.