Destination/Time Particle: に

The に (ni) particle is very common and has many uses but the main three that are very common are used to mark the Destination of an action, Location of something or the Time an action takes place. The best way to think of the に particle is that it describes the state of existence or being of something.

Using に to Mark the Destination

When using a verb that describes movement such as いく (iku) "to go", we can specify the destination of this movement by using the に particle. に in this context is similar to saying "to", however, it is best not to compare particles too much being words like in English, they are not. A common mistake is to confuse "to" with に as being a "direction marker".

While に is used here to describe the destination of a movement verb, it does not however describe the actually direction of movement; for example, "I go to the store", the store is our final destination, we travel from point A (our house) to point B (the store) but we are not stating any direction of moving between our house towards the store. The store is simply the place where we will be.

In the second example here, 彼女 (kanojo) is followed by the topic particle to tell us that it is "she" who is being talked about; the verb 行った (itta) is the past positive tense of いく to mean "went" which is a verb that involves movement; the に particle marks 学校 (gakkou) as the destination the movement the verb ends it journey at: "She went to school".

In the third example, 届けた (todoketa) is the past tense verb "delivered"; the object 荷物 (nimotsu) tells us that it was a "parcel" being delivered; the に particle marks イギリス (igirisu) as if it's a pinpoint on a map where the parcel makes its final destination.

The reason we are saying not to compare the に particle to English is because while に may seem to indicate both a place and a direction, in Japanese, the に particle specifically marks the destination of something, not the direction something takes, as mentioned before.

Saying 北に歩く (kita ni aruku) "walk to the north" would be incorrect as "north" is not a place but a direction. Instead, the particle へ (e) would be used. (We will cover more about へ in another lesson.)

The に particle is like pointing at a place on a map to say where you are going but not how to get there. It is the final destination where someone or something was, is or will be. Do not confuse this with marking the path between Point A and Point B like the object を would.

For example, 彼女は学校に行った (kanojo wa gakkou ni itta), the topic 彼女 (kanojo) didn't follow a path from her house to the school but rather her destination IS the school; the place where she will exist. Remember, the best way to think of the に particle is that it describes the state of existence or being.

Using に to Mark the Location / State of Existence

Other than marking the destination which something goes to, the に particle marks a State of Existence. This is not something you do but rather are. It is the Location where something is, was or will be. It is similar to saying "I am at home", "She is in school" and "He is sat on a chair".

When using に in this context, you must use a verb that describes something equivalent to "being" or "existing"; there are two main verbs that you will see quite often いる and ある meaning "to be" or "to exist". いる is generally used for animate objects, while ある is used for inanimate objects.

Rather than stating a destination to describe where something moves to, we are simply describing that something is existing or being at a given location.

In the next example, it may seem rather odd that 電車 (densha), meaning "train", is the destination of the intransitive verb 乗る (noru) "ride". This may not sound right when compared to English but the に particle is marking the State of Existence. After all, you are riding on the train, not driving it.

So far, we've being using the topic particle は to mark the thing we are talking about but how about the subject particle が. As the subject, が places emphasis and focus on the thing being talked about.

If we take the example 本は図書館にあった (hon wa toshokan ni atta), emphasis is on where the 本 (book) was; if we replaced the topic particle with が to make 本 the subject, emphasis is now on the "book" itself as been in the library. The difference in the English translation is that using the topic would be something like "The book was" while the subject emphasises "There was a book".

Remember, the に particle marks the State of Existence of existing or being at a location; it can only be used with a verb that describes something as "being" or "existing". To describe where an action of a verb takes place, you will need to use the で (de) particle. We will cover the で particle in another lesson.

Using に to Mark the Time

The next common use of the に particle is to mark the time a verb takes place. When used in this way, the time marked with に is usually found before the topic but it can come between the topic and verb too.

While there is no rule where に should go, words that appear closer to the predicate are more important and receive more emphasis. In the above example, emphasis is on what we did. Though less common, if 日曜日に (nichiyoubi ni) is placed closer to the end then emphasis would be when we did it.

Here, the first two sentences are very much the same in saying "We went to Church", especially if the topic is dropped, it stays the same. However, in the last example, focus is "On Sunday" when we went to Church. In English, the first thing said is important and emphasised, in Japanese, this is at the end of a sentence.

The most common place to find the に particle for marking time is at the beginning before the topic は or the very first thing after the topic as seen in the first two examples above.

The に particle is not just restricted to marking the time like "At 8 PM" or "Yesterday..." but it can also be used as a time constraint or limit. For example, let's take a look at a sentence from the video game "Densha de Go: Hashirou Yamanote Line":

Here, the particle で indicates the location of the action, which is at the 最終駅 (saishuu eki) meaning "last station"; the particle に indicates the time constraint of 20秒以内 (nijuubyou inai) meaning "within 20 seconds". Altogether, the entire sentence translates to "Stop within 20 seconds at the last station".