gataa kara booru ga booruritaan ni modoru.

The ball returns from the gutter to the ball return.

Breakdown of gataa kara booru ga booruritaan ni modoru.

• に: destination particle
• が: subject particle
• から: source particle
• 戻もどる: to return

Questions & Answers about gataa kara booru ga booruritaan ni modoru.

Why is から used after ガター?

から marks the starting point or source of movement. In this sentence, the ball starts in the gutter, so ガターから means from the gutter.

A useful pattern is:

A から B に 戻る
= return from A to B

So here:

ガターから ボールリターンに 戻る
= return from the gutter to the ball return

Why is が used after ボール?

が marks ボール as the subject of the verb 戻る.

In other words, the ball is the thing that performs the action of returning:

ボールが 戻る
= the ball returns

A learner might expect は instead, and は is also possible in some contexts, but it changes the feel a bit:

• ボールが戻る: focuses on the ball as the thing that returns
• ボールは戻る: presents the ball as the topic, something like as for the ball, it returns

In a simple descriptive sentence like this, が is very natural.

Why is に used after ボールリターン?