は wa and が ga に ni and で de Ni and
de can both be used to show
location, corresponding to the prepositions "in" or "at" in English. Their uses are mutually exclusive.
Ni, when used to show location, is used only with
stative verbs such as
iru, "to be, exist;"
aru, "to be, exist, have;" and
sumu, "to live, inhabit." • (
Nihon-ni sunde iru. "I live in Japan.") • (
Gakkō-ni iru. "I am in school.")
De is used with
action verbs to convey the place of action, as opposed to location of being. • (
Gakkō-de neru. "I sleep in/at school.") •
Gakkō-ni neru. *"I sleep to school," is not usually used.
に ni and へ e Ni and
e can both indicate
direction of motion, literally meaning "to" or "at" in English. However, as particles in Japanese directly modify the preceding noun, some Japanese language courses call this the "goal of movement" usage because it marks the goal of the movement. For example, in the sentence (
Watashi wa uchi ni kaerimasu or "I'm going back home") the goal of the movement is home (
uchi ni). In this sense,
e is perhaps closer to English "towards" in terms of use (see example below). As long as
ni is used directionally, it is possible to substitute
e in its place.
Ni used in other senses cannot be replaced by
e: • (
Gakkō ni iku. "I'm going to school"), where
gakkō, "school," is the
destination of
iku, "go." •
Gakkō e iku. "I'm going to school," where
gakkō, "school," is the destination of
iku, "go." • (
Gakkō ni iru. "I'm at school"), where
gakkō, "school," is the
location of
iru, "be;" not a destination. •
Gakkō e iru. *"I'm to school," is not a possible construction since "be" is not a verb of motion. • (
Tomodachi ni au "I'll meet my friends") where
tomodachi, "friends," is the
indirect object of
au, "meet;" not a destination. •
Tomodachi e au *"I'll meet to my friends," which is impossible because "meet" is not a verb of motion. • (
Hon o kai ni itta "I went to buy a book"), where
kai ni, "to buy," shows purpose or intent, and is a
verbal adverb; not destination. •
Hon o kai e itta *"I went towards buying a book," is not possible because
kai, "buying," cannot be a destination. Indicating direction, using
e instead of
ni is preferred when
ni is used non-directionally in proximity: • (
Tomodachi ni ai ni Kyōto e itta. "I went to Kyoto to meet my friends.")
Ni can not be replaced by
e in all uses. It must be used with days of the week as in (
Nichiyoubi ni Kyoto ni ikimasu "I will go to Kyoto on Sunday".) where
ni is used both to mark the day of the week (日曜日) and the goal of the movement (京都). It is also required with numerical times (but not relative times). For example,
ni must be used in the sentence (
Juu ichi ji ni nemasu "I will go to sleep at 11 o'clock") to mark the numerical time (十一時) but it is not used with the relative time words like tomorrow (明日), yesterday (昨日), today (今日), last week (先週), next month (来月), etc. For example, in the sentence (
watashi wa kinou shigoto ni ikimasen deshita "I did not go to work yesterday") no particle is needed for "yesterday" (昨日), but
ni is used to mark the goal of movement (仕事に).
が ga and を o In some cases,
ga and
o are seemingly interchangeable. For example, with the
tai form, meaning "want to", it is possible to say either of the following: • (
Gohan ga tabetai. "I want to eat rice.") • (
Gohan o tabetai. "I want to eat rice.") This is because
たい (an adjective indicating desire) can either be a helper adjective attached to a verb or a standalone adjective in conjunction with the previous verb depending on context. If the above sentences were broken down, they could be interpreted as • "Rice [is desired to be eaten]." • "[Eating rice] is desirable."
に ni and と to Ni and
to are sometimes interchangeable in forms like
ni naru and
to naru. The
ni naru form suggests a natural change, whereas
to naru suggests change to a final stage.
や ya and と to Ya is used for incomplete lists, whereas
to is used for complete ones.
Historical particles i was used in
Old Japanese and
kanbun works. Its meaning is still debated, but has traditionally been considered emphatic. ==Differences from English prepositions==