Beginning Japanese for Professionals: Book 2

22 文法 Grammar Notes 6-1-1 Location Particles Ni and E A place noun followed by particle ni or e, written as へ in Hiragana, indicates the ending point or direction of motion. The particles ni and e are typically used with motion verbs such as ikimasu, kimasu, kaerimasu . The difference between ni and e is subtle. Precisely speaking, ni assumes arrival at the goal while e indicates movement towards a place. But the two can be used interchangeably in many cases. 学校 がっこう に／へ行 い きます。 Gakkou ni/e ikimasu. I’ll go to school. アメリカに／へ帰 かえ りました。 Amerika ni/e kaerimashita. I returned to America. Both ni and e can be used with other verbs indicating the direction or goal. 友 とも だちに／へメールします。 Tomodachi ni/e meeru-shimasu. I’ll email my friend. あの会社 かいしゃ に／へ紹介 しょうかい します。 Ano kaisha ni/e shoukai-shimasu. I’ll introduce you to that company. Some verbs can only take に． In the following examples, you can see that there are a number of ways that this particle might be translated into English. ノートに書 か きました。 Nooto ni kakimashita. I wrote it down in the notebook. 林 はやし さんに会 あ いましたよ。 Hayashi-san ni aimashita yo. I met Ms. Hayashi. エレベーターに乗 の りましょう。 Erebeetaa ni norimashou. Let’s take the elevator. 先生 せんせい に聞 き きます。 Sensei ni kikimasu. I’ll ask the teacher. 6-1-2 〜 fun/pun Naming and Counting Minutes As we learn more time expressions, it’s important to understand the difference between expressions that name things and those that count things. Naming expressions include the days of the week (e.g. getsu-youbi ), clock time (e.g. ku-ji ), and classifiers such as ~ban, for example. Counting expressions include classifiers such as ~ tsu , ~~ ko ,