Learn about the location or time-marking particle
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| Hi, everyone. |
| Welcome to the Ultimate Japanese Particle Guide. |
| In this lesson, you'll learn the particle... |
| に (ni) |
| This particle is often referred to as the location particle or time particle, because it's mainly used to indicate a location, time, time duration, movement, or purpose. Let's first see the location-marking function. |
| In this case, the particle に (ni) indicates existence. |
| This means that it marks the location where a person or thing exists. It can follow either a concrete or an abstract place. |
| Right. So に (ni) is often used with あります (arimasu ) and います (imasu), meaning “to have“ or “to exist.” |
| Let's see how it functions in a sentence. |
| 駅に警察官がいます。(Eki ni keisatsukan ga imasu.) |
| This means "There's a police officer at the station." Let's break it down, first what is "there's a police officer"? |
| 警察官がいます。(keisatsukan ga imasu.) |
| How do we express the location, "at the station"? |
| 駅に (Eki ni) |
| Notice that the location is followed by the particle... |
| に (ni) |
| 駅に (Eki ni) |
| Along with the two main verbs that express existence, this particle is often used with certain verbs such as... |
| 住みます (sumimasu / "to live"), and 勤めます ( tsutomemasu / "to work for"). |
| For example, how do you say "Ken lives in London"? |
| ケンはロンドンに住んでいます。(Ken wa Rondon ni sunde imasu.) |
| Let's take a look at a few more examples. |
| ケンは銀行に勤めています。(Ken wa ginkō ni tsutomete imasu.) |
| "Ken works for a bank." |
| テーブルの下にねこがいます。 (Tēburu no shita ni neko ga imasu.) |
| “There is a cat under the table.” |
| 右手にコンビニがあります。(Migi te ni konbini ga arimasu.) |
| “There is a convenience store on the right side.” |
| As a time marker, this particle indicates a point of time when something takes place. It's equivalent to "in," "on," or "at" in English. |
| Unlike English, we can use に with various time expressions. |
| In English, the preposition we use changes depending on the expression we use. For example, we say "at seven o'clock" (because we use "at" with time), "on Monday" (because we use "on" with days of the week), "in June" (because we use "in" with months), and so on. |
| In Japanese, に covers all of these time expressions. |
| How do you say "at seven o'clock"? |
| "Seven o’clock" is 七時 (shichi-ji), |
| so 七時に (shichi-ji ni). |
| How would you say "On Monday"？ |
| "Monday" is 月曜日 (getsu-yōbi), |
| so 月曜日に (getsu-yōbi ni). |
| How do you say "I wake up at seven o'clock"? |
| 七時に起きます。(Shichi-ji ni okimasu.) |
| How do you say "I'll leave on Monday"? |
| 月曜日に出発します。 (Getsu-yōbi ni shuppatsu shimasu.) |
| Be careful, this particle cannot follow relative time expressions. |
| Right. Words such as 今日 ("today"), 今週 ("this week"), and 来年 ("next year") cannot be marked by the particle に. |
| Let's take a look at a few more examples. |
| 六月に日本へ行きます。(Roku-gatsu ni Nihon e ikimasu.) |
| "I'm going to Japan in June." |
| 月曜日にそうじをします。 (Ka-yōbi ni sōji o shimasu.) |
| "I clean on Monday." |
| 5時に約束があります。(Go ji ni yakusoku ga arimasu.) |
| “I have an appointment at five o'clock.” |
| Now, let's use what you learned in this lesson. |
| We learned how to say "There's a police officer at the station." |
| 駅に警察官がいます。(Eki ni keisatsukan ga imasu.) |
| The particle に (ni) marks the location where someone or something exists. The structure of the sentence is... |
| [location] |
| に (ni) |
| [verb expressing existence] |
| Now, let's try with "There's a park over there." |
| You should know the words you need. "Park" is... |
| 公園 (kōen) |
| Try to say "There's a park over there" in Japanese. [pause] |
| The answer is... |
| あそこに、公園があります。 (Asoko ni kōen ga arimasu.) |
| Did you get it right? In this sentence, the particle に (ni) indicates a location. |
| Let's try one more. |
| We also learned how to say "I wake up at seven o'clock." |
| 七時に起きます。(Shichi-ji ni okimasu.) |
| Here, the particle に (ni) marks the point in time when something happens. |
| The structure is... |
| [time] |
| に (ni) |
| [verb] |
| Now let's try with "The train arrives at four o'clock." |
| Here are the words for "train" and "to arrive." |
| 電車 (densha) |
| 着きます (tsukimasu) |
| The subject is "train." |
| 電車が (densha ga) |
| Try to say "The train arrives at four o'clock" in Japanese. [pause] |
| The answer is... |
| 電車が四時に着きます。(Densha ga yo-ji ni tsukimasu) |
| Right. In this case, the particle に (ni) marks a certain time. |
| In this lesson, you learned about the particle... |
| に |
| In the next lesson, you'll learn about the particle... |
| で |
| See you in the next lesson. Bye! |
| Bye~ |
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