Learn the difference between the Japanese particles de and ni
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Intro |
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| Michael: What is the difference between the Japanese particles de (で) and ni (に)? |
| Risa: And how do you know which one to use? |
| Michael: At JapanesePod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Shigeyo Ikegami is talking with her son-in-law, Jun Sasaki. She asks him about his daughter, |
| "Where is Himari?" |
| Shigeyo Ikegami: ひまりちゃんはどこにいますか。 (Himari-chan wa doko ni imasu ka.) |
| Dialogue |
| Shigeyo Ikegami: ひまりちゃんはどこにいますか。 (Himari-chan wa doko ni imasu ka.) |
| Jun Sasaki: 図書館にいます。図書館で勉強しています。 (Toshokan ni imasu. Toshokan de benkyō shite imasu.) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Shigeyo Ikegami: ひまりちゃんはどこにいますか。(Himari-chan wa doko ni imasu ka.) |
| Michael: "Where is Himari?" |
| Jun Sasaki: 図書館にいます。図書館で勉強しています。(Toshokan ni imasu. Toshokan de benkyō shite imasu.) |
| Michael: "[She] is in the library. [She] is studying in the library." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: You might have noticed that English uses the preposition "in" to express both that Himari is in the library and that she is studying in the library. Japanese, however, is a bit different. |
| Risa: Yes, in Japanese we use the particle ni when we say that Himari is in a library - toshokan ni imasu - but we use the particle de when we say that she is studying in a library - toshokan de benkyō shite imasu. |
| Michael: The main difference is that the particle ni is used when we say where someone or something is located without referencing what is happening there, while the particle de is used when we say where an action is taking place. |
| Michael: In the dialogue, Shigeyo used the particle ni to ask where Himari is: |
| Risa as Shigeyo Ikegami: ひまりちゃんはどこにいますか。 (Himari-chan wa doko ni imasu ka.) |
| Michael: "Where is Himari?" To which Jun answered, |
| Risa as Jun Sasaki: 図書館にいます。図書館で勉強しています。(Toshokan ni imasu. Toshokan de benkyō shite imasu.) |
| Michael: "[She] is in the library. [She] is studying in the library." Note, again, that if a person or a thing is located in a given place, then we use the particle |
| Risa: に (ni) |
| Michael: and if something is happening in that place, then we use the particle |
| Risa: で (de). |
| Michael: As another example, consider the sentence, |
| Risa: 公園にいます。 (Kōen ni imasu.), |
| Michael: meaning, "[I']m in a park." Because we are simply talking about location, and not mentioning an action, we use the particle |
| Risa: に (ni). |
| Michael: On the other hand, to say "[I']m playing in the park," we would say |
| Risa: 公園で遊んでいます。 (Kōen de asonde imasu.) |
| Michael: where we use the particle |
| Risa: で (de) |
| Michael: because, this time, we are talking about the location of an action, "to play," and not simply the location of a person or thing. |
| Risa: Yes, that's right. |
| Michael: Let's continue with a few more examples: |
| Risa: 公園で寝ています。 (Kōen de nete imasu.) |
| Michael: "[I']m sleeping in a park." Here, we use the particle |
| Risa: で (de) |
| Michael: to indicate where the action, "sleeping," is taking place. Let's continue. |
| Risa: 部屋にテーブルがあります。 (Heya ni tēburu ga arimasu.) |
| Michael: "There's a table in the room." In this example, we are just stating the location where the table "exists." There is no action in this sentence, so we use the particle ni. Moving on, we have, |
| Risa: 部屋でパーティーがあります。 (Heya de pātī ga arimasu.) |
| Michael: "There's a party in the room." Here, the party is an event that it is taking place in the room, so we use the particle de, even though with the verb |
| Risa: あります (arimasu) |
| Michael: we almost exclusively use the particle |
| Risa: に (ni). |
| Michael: Let's keep going. |
| Risa: 東京で働いています。 (Tōkyō de hataraite imasu.) |
| Michael: "I work in Tokyo." Notice how the particle de is used to say "work in Tokyo." |
| Risa: "Working" is an action, so we use the particle de with the place where the action is being performed. |
| Michael: As our next example, consider the sentence, "I live in Tokyo": |
| Risa: 東京に住んでいます。 (Tōkyō ni sunde imasu.) |
| Michael: In this sentence, we use the particle ni because "to live" somewhere in Japanese is not perceived as an action, but rather as stating a location. Thus, "living" is more like being somewhere; it's like saying where someone is. Compare this again to the previous example, "I work in Tokyo," |
| Risa: 東京で働いています。 (Tōkyō de hataraite imasu.) |
| Michael: As previously mentioned, the particle de was used since working is seen as an action. |
| Risa: That's right. |
| Michael: Sometimes, however, it may not be obvious that we are just talking about the location and not the action. |
| Risa: Yes. For example, いすに座っています。 (Isu ni suwatte imasu.) |
| Michael: "I'm sitting on a chair." While "sitting" may appear to be an action, the chair here is treated like a final destination. Here are some similar examples: |
| Risa: 廊下に立っています。 (Rōka ni tatte imasu.) |
| Michael: "I'm standing in the corridor." |
| Risa: ホテルに泊まります。 (Hoteru ni tomarimasu.) |
| Michael: "I will stay at a hotel." Let's move on with an important point to remember: While we use the particle |
| Risa: で (de) |
| Michael: to say that we work somewhere, like in the sentence, "I work at Innovative Hotel," |
| Risa: イノベーティブホテルで働いています (Innobētibu hoteru de hataraite imasu), |
| Michael: we use the particle |
| Risa: に (ni) |
| Michael: when saying that we are employed somewhere, like in the sentence "I work for Innovative Hotel," |
| Risa: イノベーティブホテルに勤めています。 (Innobētibu hoteru ni tsutomete imasu.) |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: Let's summarize what we have learned: If we are stating where a person or thing is located, as in the sentence "I'm in a park." |
| Risa: 私は公園にいます。 (Watashi wa kōen ni imasu.) |
| Michael: or, "There is a TV in the room." |
| Risa: 部屋にテレビがあります。 (Heya ni terebi ga arimasu.), |
| Michael: then we use the particle |
| Risa: に (ni). |
| Michael: It is important to remember that we also use the particle ni when talking about living somewhere, like when saying "I live in Tokyo." |
| Risa: 東京に住んでいます。 (Tōkyō ni sunde imasu.) |
| Michael: and with some special verbs which indicate a destination, like "to sit" |
| Risa: 座る (suwaru), |
| Michael: "to stand" |
| Risa: 立つ (tatsu), |
| Michael: "to stay (at a hotel)" |
| Risa: 泊まる (tomaru), |
| Michael: and "to be employed" |
| Risa: 勤める (tsutomeru). |
| Michael: In all these cases, the location is treated more like an endpoint and not like the place where an action is taking place. |
| Michael: Recall, as well, that while we use the particle ni with the verb "to be employed" |
| Risa: 勤める (tsutomeru), |
| Michael: we use the particle de with the verb "to work" |
| Risa: 働く (hataraku). |
| Michael: Generally speaking, we use the particle de when we talk about the place where an action is being performed, as in the sentence "I'm eating at a restaurant." |
| Risa: レストランで食べています。 (Resutoran de tabete imasu.) |
| Michael: or when saying that an event is happening somewhere, as in "There is a party at the embassy." |
| Risa: 大使館でパーティーがあります。 (Taishikan de pātī ga arimasu.) |
| Michael: You should also remember that "sleeping" is also perceived as an action, so to say "He's sleeping in the room." you should also use the particle de: |
| Risa: 彼は部屋で寝ています。 (Kare wa heya de nete imasu.) |
| Expansion |
| Michael: Now that we have compared some common usages of the particles de and ni, let's now consider some of the other usages of these two particles. Let's look at the particle ni first. We already know that it may be used to indicate where someone or something is located, as in the sentence "I'm at the station." |
| Risa: 駅にいます。 (Eki ni imasu.) |
| Michael: However, as we have implied, it can also be used to mark a destination, like in the sentence, "I'm going to Tokyo." |
| Risa: 東京に行きます。 (Tōkyō ni ikimasu.) |
| Michael: We also use the particle ni to mark the specific time that something occurs, such as when specifying a date, day of the week, or hour: |
| Risa: 金曜日に映画を見ます。 (Kin-yōbi ni eiga o mimasu.) |
| Michael: "I'm going to watch a movie on Friday." |
| Risa: ６時に起きます。 (Roku-ji ni okimasu.) |
| Michael: "I wake up at 6 o'clock." Additionally, we use the particle ni with the verb naru when talking about a change, as in the sentence, "I became a doctor." |
| Risa: 医者になりました。 (Isha ni narimashita.) |
| Michael: or, "It became quiet." |
| Risa: 静かになりました。 (Shizuka ni narimashita.) |
| Michael: Lastly, the particle ni is also used when talking about how many times something occurs in a given period, like when saying, "twice a month" |
| Risa: 一か月に二回 (ikkagetsu ni ni-kai), |
| Michael: or, "three times a day." |
| Risa: 一日に三回 (ichi-nichi ni san-kai). |
| Michael: Although there are also other usages of the particle ni, we have covered here all the usages required for level N5 of the JLPT. Let's now take a broader look at the particle de. You already know that we use the particle de when talking about a place where an action is being performed, as in the sentence "The children are playing in the park." |
| Risa: 子供たちが公園で遊んでいます。 (Kodomo-tachi ga kōen de asonde imasu.) |
| Michael: We also use the particle de to indicate the means of doing something, such as when specifying which tool or utensil was used, as in the phrases "with a fork" |
| Risa: フォークで (fōku de) |
| Michael: and "by car" |
| Risa: 車で (kuruma de). |
| Michael: Furthermore, the particle de can be used to give reasons, like "because of sickness" |
| Risa: 病気で (byōki de) |
| Michael: or "because of fever" |
| Risa: 熱で (netsu de). |
| Michael: The particle de can even be used to indicate a limit, like "within one hour" |
| Risa: 一時間で (ichi-jikan de) |
| Michael: or "within a week" |
| Risa: 一週間で (isshūkan de). |
| Michael: Lastly, the particle de may be placed after a certain quantity, time, or amount of money to indicate a total number, as in the question, "How much is it for five (of some product)?" |
| Risa: 五つでいくらですか。 (Itsutsu de ikura desu ka.) |
| Michael: And there you have it. While this may seem like a lot of information, don't worry. The most important points to remember are that whenever you say where a person, place, or thing is located, you should use the particle |
| Risa: に (ni) |
| Michael: and whenever you say where some action is taking place, you should use the particle |
| Risa: で (de). |
| Michael: Everything else should come to you naturally with experience and time. |
| [Review] |
| Michael: Before we go, let's review the sample conversation: Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud, and then listen carefully as Risa models the correct answer. Repeat after her, with the focus on your pronunciation. Are you ready? |
| How do you say, "Where is Himari?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Risa as Shigeyo Ikegami: ひまりちゃんはどこにいますか。(Himari-chan wa doko ni imasu ka.) |
| Michael: Did you get it right? Listen again and repeat. Remember to focus on your pronunciation. |
| Risa as Shigeyo Ikegami: ひまりちゃんはどこにいますか。(Himari-chan wa doko ni imasu ka.) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Risa as Shigeyo Ikegami: ひまりちゃんはどこにいますか。(Himari-chan wa doko ni imasu ka.) |
| Michael: Let's move on to the second sentence. How do you say, "[She] is in the library. [She] is studying in the library." |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Risa as Jun Sasaki: 図書館にいます。図書館で勉強しています。(Toshokan ni imasu. Toshokan de benkyō shite imasu.) |
| Michael: Did you get it right this time? Listen again and repeat. |
| Risa as Jun Sasaki: 図書館にいます。図書館で勉強しています。(Toshokan ni imasu. Toshokan de benkyō shite imasu.) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Risa as Jun Sasaki: 図書館にいます。図書館で勉強しています。(Toshokan ni imasu. Toshokan de benkyō shite imasu.) |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Risa: またね！ (Mata-ne!) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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