Grammar Info

N5 Lesson 3: 2/13

In, At, To, For, On

Structure

Noun +

Details

  • Particle

  • Case Marking Particle

  • Standard

About に

can be a very difficult particle to master in Japanese, as it has many different translations in English. These translations are usually 'in', 'at', 'to', 'for', or 'on'. Let's look at an example of each meaning.

While these examples may seem quite confusing at first, it will be easier to think of as always having one 'basic' meaning. That meaning is to be the 'end-point' of an action. This means that whatever action is being described, can only be considered complete/able to be completed once you're at/while you're at the location/time described in the sentence.

Verbs like ()む (to live/dwell) often confuse learners, as they use instead of . This is also due to the fact that ()む is a verb that can only be 'completed' at the destination. (You can only complete the act of living/dwelling in the place that you live, so to speak).

Synonyms



Examples

--:--

  • (かれ)あそこいます。

    He is at that place over there.

  • ここ(ほん)()

    To place a book on this place (here).

  • この(つくえ)(うえ)(すわ)

    To sit on this desk.

  • (えき)()

    To go to the station.

  • 病院(びょういん)()

    To go to the hospital.

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に – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (14 in total)

  • FredKore

    FredKore

    勤める(つとめる) is more like “to be employed as, to serve as, to work for”

    働く(はたらく) is like “to work (hard at), to labor, to operate”

    So, it’s the difference between “I’m working for (I’m employed at) a company” versus “I’m working (I’m working hard) at my job”. Related but different.

    会社に勤めている。

    仕事で働いている。

  • additionalramen

    additionalramen

    These are both very helpful explanations, thank you!!

  • John-Bunpro

    John-Bunpro

    Just as another example to illustrate how two verbs that are similar in meaning can take different particles, consider 住む and 暮らす.

    Both are used to express ‘to live (i.e. reside in a particular place’, but 住む, which has more of a nuance of that’s the place where you generally are/exist (and is therefore similar in nuance to existence verbs like いる) takes に, while 暮らす, which has more of the nuance of performing daily activities of life there (similar to e.g. 生活する) takes で.

    So you see, for example, 大阪に住む vs. 田舎で暮らす. The overall meaning doesn’t differ drastically, but the two verbs take different particles because 住む frames ‘living’ more as existence and 暮らす more in terms of actions.

    Anyhow, just thought I’d toss this out there as another example of the...

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