11.5) The に Particle [Part 1]
While が is the most important particle in Japanese, に may hold the title for being the most versatile. It has A LOT of uses. But fear not true believer, I have a post (or a few) to help you understand the many uses of に!
Let’s start out slow, shall we? In this post, I only have 2 uses to tell you about, marking existence and marking movement. The interesting thing is that you may not see the connection at first, but it’s there (at least in a Japanese way of thinking). Because I have so many examples for you, the vocabulary for this post won’t contain the verbs; I’ll put all of them together a little later in the post.
【Existence】
に is used to mark a place of existence. Back in this post about the particle の, we talked about “Location Noun Phrases.” These are nouns connected to location nouns (such as 上, 下, 外 etc.) with the particle の. Even though my examples there only used the location noun phrases as topics, they are more often used to say where someone or something is located.
For example, the English phrase “on the table” would become 机の上 in Japanese. If we want to make a comment about that location, we attach the は particle. However, if we want to say that something is located there, we need the に particle. If we wanted to say that a cat is located there, we would say:
①｛机の上に｝猫が｛いる｝。
= At the on of the desk, a cat exists.
= There is a cat on the desk.
いる is used because the subject (the cat) has a will of its own. For non-living things (and plants) that don’t have a will of their own, ある is used. A more extract example would be:
②｛宇宙には｝無数の星が｛ある｝。
= As for in space, an uncountable number of stars exist.
= There are countless stars in space.
It’s the same idea. が marks the subject of the sentence while ある or いる tells us that it exists and に tells us where. Example 2 additionally made the place the topic. This leads to the nuance that we are talking about things that exist in the universe.
③ それは｛ここに｝｛ない｝。
As for that, it isn’t here.
④ なぜ橋本さんは｛家に｝｛いなかった｝の？
Why wasn’t Mr. / Ms. Hashimoto at home?
As you can see, the same is true when you want to talk about things / people that are not located somewhere. Note that the は particle is often used in sentences with negative verbs like ない or いなかった.
【Destination of Movement】
The remaining uses of に all have a common connection, which is movement. The first time Japanese learners are introduced to に, it’s usually in sentences where there is some form of movement. In these simple sentences, に marks the destination. Here are some examples:
⑤ 3年前、｛アメリカに｝｛行った｝。
= 3 years ago, to America (I) went.
⑥ ｛ここに｝｛来て｝ね。
= To here, come, won’t you?
⑦ 仕事の後、彼は｛帰る｝。*
= After work, as for him, he went / came home.
⑧ これから授業に｛出る｝。*
= Now, I will leave (where I’m at) to go to class.
⑨ お風呂に｛入りたい｝。
= Into the bath / tub I want to go.
*In example 7, 帰る simply means the subject is returning home, we don’t know whether the listener is at home or not. In example 8, the に bundle marks the destination. If you want to state the origin point, you would use から.
【The Result of Moving Yourself】
Now here is the interesting part that will tie movement and existence together. In Japanese, the idea of existing somewhere is not limited to the verbs ある and いる. There are a lot of other verbs that express existence - it’s just that the existence is a result of some kind of movement. Take a look at this example:
⑩ 友達が｛空港に｝｛着いた｝。
= My friend at the airport arrived.
= My friend arrived at the airport.
Let’s say a 4-year old asks you, “What’s the difference between arriving somewhere and being somewhere?” First off, that child is very smart. But when you actually think about it, the idea of arriving somewhere is not really different from existing there. (I think the difference is that “arriving” carries with it the idea that there was some travel or movement prior whereas simply existing somewhere doesn’t tell us how the person got to that point.)
With that in mind, the following examples also show us the result of some kind of movement. Notice how に marks where the subject ends up after the movement.
⑪ ｛バスに｝｛乗った｝。
= I got on the bus.
(movement onto the bus and then existing there)
⑫ トムは｛その椅子に｝｛座る｝。
= Tom sits in that chair.
(movement to the chair and then existing there. More simply, sitting there)
⑬ ｛ドアの枠に｝｛立った｝。
= I stood under the door frame.
(movement to under the door frame and then existing there. Simply put, standing there)
【The Result of Moving Something】
Our next set of examples are closely related to the last section’s examples with one difference: Now instead of a person moving, an object is moved and then exists somewhere. Because this implies that the object has no volition of its own, our old friend the を particle will show up.
Here are some examples where the end result of some kind of movement is existence somewhere else:
⑭ 寝る前、猫を｛外に｝｛出してください｝。*
= Before you go to sleep, please put the cat outside.
⑮ 彼は｛カメラに｝新しいフィルムを｛入れた｝。
= He put new film into the camera.
⑯ 鉛筆を｛机の上に｝｛置いた｝。
= I put the pencil on the table.
⑰ 彼女はミルクを｛ボールに｝｛注いだ｝。
= She poured milk into the bowl.
⑱ つけめんは、麺を｛スープの中に｝｛付ける｝。*
= As for Tsukemen, (you) the noodles into the soup dip.
⑲ ｛肉に｝塩を｛かけよう｝。*
= I’m going to put (sprinkle) salt on the meat.
*In Example 14, though the cat is alive and would normally have volition to do something, in this case it is treated like an object. Poor cat! In example 18, even though dipping is for a second or less, the noodles will exist in the soup for that short period of time. In example 19, かける has the image of showering something completely over something else. 肉に would then mean that the meat will exist inside the “shower of salt”. 🙃
【Clothing】
There are a whole set of verbs that have to do with putting on and wearing clothes, accessories, footwear, etc. I’m planning on writing a separate post about them but for now, it’s good to realize that they all fall into the category of moving something in order to make it exist somewhere - that is, on a part of the body. With these verbs, if there is a に it will be attached to the body part because that is the “destination” for the article of clothing. Most of the time though, this に bundle is omitted because it’s obvious from the verb and the article of clothing.
⑳ 父は（頭に）帽子を｛被る｝
= As for my father, he hats wears.
My father wears hats (on his head). (duh lol)
【The Verbs】
The に that marks the location of existence works together with only certain verbs. It would be very strange to say 家に食べる。The reason is that 食べる is not the correct kind of verb that works with に. Here are the verbs we have seen so far:
I do want to mention something that you will inevitably run into. Using these verbs in the past tense obviously describes a past action. Using them in the non-past (dictionary) form can either indicate a future action or a habitual action.
However something interesting happens when you change these verbs to their て form and then attach いる. Again, I plan to go into more detail at a later date, but there are 3 possibilities:
A) You will end up describing a continuous, ongoing physical action.
B) You will end up with not an ongoing action, but an ongoing state or condition.
C) Depending on context, it could be case A or case B.
出している means continuously putting out or giving off something.
行っている does not mean “continuously going”. It means “went and then remained in that state”, more simply “is there”. It’s the same with 来ている.
乗っている can mean getting on / boarding but it can also mean boarded and then remained in that state, more simply, is on the bus, train, etc.
座っている means sat and then remained in that state = is sitting
【Conclusion】
Well that was a lot, wasn’t it!? I gave you a lot of examples but I hope it’s easy to see how they all are related. Whether there was some sort of movement (moving yourself or moving an object) or not, the end result is always existence. I think this is the key to understanding the に particle because it always marks the location of the existence. If you keep this in mind, you won’t end up asking yourself “why do they use に HERE?” all the time. No one needs all that!
As always thanks for your time and see you next post!
