Structure Legend
Structure
Place + へ(1) + 行く
(1) に
Details
Part of Speech
Expression
Word Type
Verb
Register
Standard
品詞
表現
単語の種類
動詞
使用域
一般
About へいく
へ行く is a common construction used when describing a place that someone/something is 'heading'. The particles に and へ are interchangeable, but there is a slight difference in meaning. に has the nuance of 'going to', while へ has the nuance of 'heading to'.
- ジョンは学校へ行く。John is heading to school.
- エルサは病院に行く。Elsa is going to the hospital.
- 先生へ電話をする。To make a call to the teacher. (Focuses more on the distance between the caller and receiver)
- 先生に電話をする。To make a call to the teacher. (Focuses more on the destination of the call)
Synonyms
Examples
学校へ行く。
To go to school.
駅へ行く。
To go to the station.
東京へ行く。
To go to Tokyo.
教室へ行く。
To go to the classroom.
道へ行きます。
To go toward a road.
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Online
「へ」vs. 「に」
Japanese Stack Exchange
The directional 「へ」 particle
Tae Kim
Offline
Genki I
Page 91
みんなの日本語 I
Page 38 [CH 5]
[DBJG] A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar
Page 149
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へいく – Grammar Discussion
Most Recent Replies (4 in total)
nekoyama
About 3 years ago
There is a slight difference in nuance in that へ is more about the direction and に is more about the destination. You might see へ e.g. when talking about a bus route in terms of the final destination even though the bus also stops at other locations on the way.
In general usage, に is vastly more popular than へ and it’s almost always a safe choice. Exceptions are mainly certain set phrases that use へ, and when it’s followed by the particle の as in への (there is no にの).
matt_in_mito
About 3 years ago
@nfive, @nekoyama is absolutely right, but I want to add that when I was learning about this, I asked so many Japanese people what the difference was and most of them didn’t know and used them interchangeably.
Duolingo
About 2 months ago
I know this topic is very old but @matt_in_mito made the point that I want to ask about.
The grammar point for へ行くsays that ‘he’ and ‘ni’ are interchangeable but they have a different nuance to them.
'ni' has the nuance of 'going to' - it focuses on the destination. 'he' has the nuance of 'heading to' - it focuses on the distance traveled
Then BP follows up with the following two examples to complete their point.
- ジョンは学校へ行く。
John is heading to school.
- エルサは病院に行く。
Elsa is going to the hospital.
Everything is great up to here. But then the examples for ‘he’ consistently uses it in the ‘to go to’ sense, e.g.,
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