WHEATTHlNS said:
Gold - if you "knew" it - meaning you clearly read the chapter in your book that goes over "[insert grammatical arrangement here]", you really shouldnt be having difficulty with where things go.
Um, I did read it. Here's how 'wo' is used:
You could call o a "limited use" particle. Its only job is to show us what the direct object is:
Jisho o kashite kureru? (Would you please loan me your dictionary?)
Atarashii kamera o katta. (I bought a new camera.)
Pizza o tabemashou ka. (Shall we get a pizza?)
However, ga is usually preferred when using the -tai ending:
Ramen ga tabetai. (I want to eat ramen.)
Also, use ga, not o, before the verbs iru (to be present; to exist), iru (to need), aru, wakaru, dekiru, and the weird quasi-verb/adjectives suki, kirai and hoshii:
Bob no heya ni tokage ga iru. (There's a lizard in Bob's room.)
Boku wa atarashii kasa ga iranai. (I don't need a new umbrella.)
Shizu wa jitensha ga arimasu ka. (Does Shizu have a bicycle?)
Kenji no itte iru koto ga wakaranai. (I don't understand what Kenji's saying.)
Emiko wa ryouri ga dekiru? (Can Emiko cook?)
Chuuka ryouri ga suki desu ka. (Do you like Chinese food?)
Tom wa hikouki ga kirai. (Tom hates airplanes.)
Ano nuigurumi ga hoshii! (I want that stuffed animal!)
It is sometimes easy to confuse the particle o with the o- prefix which is used as an honorific indicator for some selected nouns, so be careful. Some of these are:
o-tenki: the weather
o-cha: tea
o-mizu: water
o-niku: meat
o-naka: stomach
o-kuruma: car
These can be very interesting. Some use the o- prefix only in some instances and not in others. For example, when talking about your own car or cars in general, you would never use the o- prefix. You will probably only hear it when salespeople or servicepeople are talking about the car you are going to buy or have bought from them. Some, like o-tenki and o-cha, are almost always used with the honorific prefix.
I might as well mention here that there is a verb conjugation that uses this honorific prefix. It's o- + Base 2, and has several endings. Here are examples of two:
Douzo, o-cha o o-nomi kudasai. (Please, have some tea.)
O-niku wa o-tabe ni narimashita ka. (Did you have some meat?)
These are very polite constructions. Can you sense the honor and respect oozing from them?
Although this particle is usually written o in romaji these days, in older documents it may be seen written wo. It's the same particle with the same role, but with an alternate spelling in romaji. You may also hear some Japanese pronounce it more like wo than o.
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And it still gives me trouble.
You have to realize, japanese is completely different from english. You can't expect someone who's been studying japanese for 3 weeks to be able to use particles correct everytime. What's wrong with you?