Learn about the direction-marking particle
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| Hi, everyone. |
| Welcome to the Ultimate Japanese Particle Guide. |
| In this lesson, you'll learn the particle... |
| へ (e) |
| This particle is often referred to as the direction particle, because it usually indicates a direction or goal. |
| Let's see how it functions in a sentence. Risa, How do you say “to go”? |
| 行きます (ikimasu) |
| And “to go to Mexico”? |
| メキシコへ行きます (Mekishiko e ikimasu) |
| Notice how the destination, Mexico is marked by the direction marking particle... |
| メキシコへ (Mekishiko e) |
| So, "to the airport" would be? |
| "Airport" in Japanese is 空港 (kūkō) so 空港へ (kūkō e). |
| How do you say then "go to the airport"? |
| 空港へ行きます (kūkō e ikimasu) |
| Let's make a full sentence using this phrase. |
| これは空港へ行きますか。 (Kore wa kūkō e ikimasu ka.) |
| This means "Does this go to the airport?" |
| There is an important thing to remember about this particle's pronunciation. |
| When the hiragana symbol for へ (he) is part of a word, it’s pronounced へ (he). But when it’s used as a particle, it’s pronounced え (e). |
| Now, let's take a look at a few more examples. |
| 私は、家へ帰ります。(Watashi wa uchi e kaerimasu.) |
| "I'm going home." |
| 日本へようこそ！ (Nihon e yōkoso!) |
| "Welcome to Japan!" |
| 友達と温泉へ行きます。 (Tomodachi to onsen e ikimasu.) |
| "I'm going to go to a hot spring with my friends." |
| This particle can also mark the recipient of an action. |
| Let's see how it functions in a sentence. For example how do you say "I called my friend"? |
| 友達へ電話をかけました。(Tomodachi e denwa o kakemashita.) |
| First, we have the recipient of the action, marked by the particle... |
| 友達へ (Tomodachi e) |
| Then we have the action, "I called." |
| 電話をかけました ( denwa o kakemashita.) |
| Let's see the same sentence, with a different recipient, for example "I called my mother." |
| 母へ電話をかけました。(Haha e denwa o kakemashita.) |
| Also in this case the recipient of the action is marked by the particle. |
| 母へ (Haha e) |
| Let's take a look at a few more examples. |
| 友達へメールをしました。 (Tomodachi e mēru o shimashita.) |
| "I emailed my friend." |
| 彼へ手紙を送りました。 (Kare e tegami o okurimasita.) |
| "I sent him a letter." |
| 部長が部下へ話します。(Buchō ga buka e hanashimasu.) |
| "The director talks to his subordinates." |
| Now, let's use what you learned in this lesson. |
| We learned how to say “to go to Mexico.” |
| メキシコへ行きます (Mekishiko e ikimasu) |
| Here the particle へ (e) marks the direction of the action. The structure is... |
| [direction or goal] |
| へ (e) |
| [verb] |
| Now, let's try with "to go to Japan." The word for "Japan" is... |
| 日本 (Nihon) |
| "To go to Japan" in Japanese is... [pause] |
| The answer is... |
| 日本へ行きます (Nihon e ikimasu) |
| Did you get it right? In this sentence, the particle indicates a destination. |
| Let's try one more. We learned how to say "I called my friend." |
| 友達へ電話をかけました。(Tomodachi e denwa o kakemashita.) |
| Here, the particle へ (e) marks the recipient of an action. |
| The structure is... |
| [recipient] |
| へ (e) |
| [verb or verb phrase] |
| Now, let's try with "I send flowers to her." Here are the words meaning "to send flowers" and "her." |
| お花を送ります (o-hana o okurimasu) |
| 彼女 (kanojo) |
| Try to say "I send flowers to her." in Japanese. [pause] |
| The answer is... |
| 彼女へお花を送ります (kanojo e o-hana o okurimasu) |
| Right. In this case, the particle へ (e) marks the recipient of an action. |
| In this lesson, you learned about the particle... |
| へ |
| In the next lesson, you'll learn about the particle... |
| に |
| See you in the next lesson. Bye! |
| Bye~ |
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