Monday, September 26, 2011

The basic functions of を, に/へ, and で

There are a few basic sentence structures that you learn with these particles.

location に/へ motion verb.
Ex: としょかんにいきます。/としょかんへいきます。Go to the library.
The に/へ here marks the destination you have.
NOTE: The particle へ is pronounced as え.

location で action verb.
Ex: うちでねます。Sleep at home.
The で here marks the location that you are doing something.

indirect object を action verb.
Ex: みずをのみます。Drink water.
The を here marks the indirect object, showing that you are doing something to something else.

You can combine the above two to make sentences like this:

location で indirect object を action verb.
Ex: レストランでばんごはんをたべます。Eat dinner at a restaurant.
NOTE: When combining these, you MUST keep the particles with the works they are marking.
レストランで/ばんごはんを/たべます。
Technically you can mix these around, as long as the action verb stays at the end, but I would not recommend it as it gets confusing and can sound a bit odd.

A LOT OF PEOPLE MIX UP に AND で
The easiest way I have found to remember which is which is that a location with に has a motion verb at the end and a location that has で has an action verb at the end.

This may change once you learn more complicated grammar, BUT if you are taking Japanese 120 and using Nakama 1a, REMEMBER THIS

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