Important ! I strongly recommend that you review the following courses : the particle の and the particle と.
The particle に is undoubtedly the most used particle in the Japanese language. In this course, we will only see one of the many uses of this particle for now. Namely, the particle に is used to indicate a place where nothing is happening. Or, if you prefer, it is used to indicate the location or existence of a subject.
In Japanese, we differentiate a place where nothing is happening from a place where something is happening. Thanks to the particle に, we can express the place where nothing happens. It simply indicates the location or the existence of a subject. To do this, we must pay attention to the verbs in order to know whether we are dealing with an action verb or a presence verb.
In the case of the particle に which makes it possible to express the place where nothing happens, the sentence will contain a presence verb like :
いる → to be (for all that is alive and animated)
Examples : humans and living animals, the taxi (implying the taxi driver)…
ある → to be (for all that is non-living or inanimate)
Examples : the plants, the trees, a pen, a robot, a cell…
Now the question that arises is, from the point of view of the Japanese, what do they consider to be alive and animated on the one hand, and what do they consider as non-living and inanimate on the other hand ?
To do this, see the list below :
A human being → いる
An animal (dog, cat, zebra, giraffe, fox, horse, sheep, rabbit, wolf, crocodile, monkey, gorilla, panda…) → いる
A tree → ある
Although a tree is alive, it is considered to be inanimate (even if it moves extremely slowly). Ditto for flowers, grass, poppies, sunflowers, petunias, cherry trees and anything else that is part of the plant realm.
A pen → ある
A pen is an object, so we will use ある. Ditto for a pencil, a pencil case, a glue stick, a vase, a cupboard, a chair, a stool, an easel, a board, a table, a book, a bed, a pillow, sheets, clothes, shoes... Everything that is an object is non-living and inanimate, so we will use ある.
A robot → ある
A robot is considered an object although it can be animated, so we will use ある.
A cell → ある
A cell is alive and animated, but given that it is of the order of the microscopic and has no will of its own, then we will use ある.
A taxi → いる
Here we mean the taxi driver, the person who is inside the taxi, so we will use いる.
A fish → いる or ある
If we are talking about the fish that are alive and swimming underwater, then we will use いる. If we are talking about grilled fish on the plate or cut into very thin slices, then we will use ある because the fish is dead. He is no longer alive, nor animated. Ditto for all other animals.
The sentence can also contain a verb like 残る . のこる which means « to stay », « to remain ». Or 取り残す . とりのこす which means « to leave behind ».
To summarize, here are the presence verbs with which we can use the particle に to indicate the location or existence of a subject.
いる . to be (for all that is alive and animated)
ある . to be (for all that is non-living or inanimate)
残る . のこる . to stay, to remain
取り残す . とりのこす . to leave behind
住む . すむ . to live, to inhabit
Now is the time to see some example sentences. Of course, as usual, the particle に is placed after the word or group of words to which it refers. And the presence verbs mentioned above are placed at the end.
If I have the following sentence in Japanese :
家にいる。
We have the verb いる which indicates that we are talking about a living being. We also have the particle に which relates to the word 家. So, we will translate this sentence as :
To be at the house. / To be at home.
Another example :
動物園にある。
We have the verb ある which indicates that we are talking about something non-living, an object. We also have the particle に which relates to the word 動物園. So, we will translate this sentence as :
To be at the zoo.
Another example with a nominal group this time :
伊豆の競輪場にいる。
We have the verb いる which indicates that we are talking about a living being, it could be a human or an animal. We also have the particle に which relates to the nominal group 動物園. So, we will translate this sentence as :
To be at the Izu Velodrome.
It’s time to move up a gear. We now turn to sentences containing topics.
私は大阪に住む。
わたしはおおさかにすむ。
I live in Osaka.
動物は森林公園にいる。
どうぶつはしんりんこうえんにいる。
The animal is in the forest park.
咲夜はコンビニにいる。
さくやはコンビニにいる。
Sakuya is in a convenience store.
ディランとドナルドはバスケットボールコートにいる。
Dylan and Donald are on the basketball court.
私は海人と映画館にいる。
わたしはかいととえいがかんにいる。
I’m at the movies with Kaito.
ルイスの手袋は動物園にある。
ルイスのてぶくろはどうぶつえんにある。
The gloves of Louis are in the zoo.
縞馬は花屋の庭にいる。
しまうまははなやのにわにいる。
The zebra is in the garden of the flower shop.
薔薇や向日葵やチューリップや水仙や桜花は花屋のショーウィンドウにある。
ばらやひまわりやチューリップやすいせんやおうかははなやのショーウィンドウにある。
Roses, sunflowers, tulips, daffodils and cherry blossoms… are in the show window of the flower shop.
(The presence of the three ellipses is there to mean that we imply that the enumerated list is not complete because we are using the particle や)
Did you know ? the word « cherry blossom » in Japanese can be said :
– 桜の花 . さくらのはな . the cherry blossom (in purely Japanese)
– 桜花 . オウカ . the cherry blossom (in Sino-Japanese)
美香とナタリアは文恵の猫と神戸の病院にいる。
みかとナタリアはふみえのねことこうべのびょういんにいる。
Mika and Natalia are in Kobe hospital with Fumie’s cat.
Since we start to create more and longer sentences, it is time to touch a few words about the pronunciation of Japanese sentences.
If you want to pronounce your sentence correctly, you need to pause after the most important particles of the sentence. But what are the important particles of the sentence? Let’s go back to our previous example where the most important particles are underlined :
美香と星野は文恵の猫と沖縄の病院にいる。
When speaking, Japanese people insist on the most important particles of the sentence so that they are clearly understood by the other person. It is therefore important to practice pronouncing the sentences correctly in Japanese.
Although this is a written course, I will try to add audio files as soon as I can.
Good ! We have seen the first use of the particle に which is the most used particle in the Japanese language.
We could also have seen the prepositions « inside », « above », « below », « beside », « to the left of », « to the right of », « behind », « in front »… but I am dedicating these words for a vocabulary course coming immediately after this one.
Exercises await you, as always, some theme and version including the use of the particle に. We’re starting to get into some more complex sentences so take your time. The important thing is to understand the lesson, if you make mistakes, it’s okay, repeat until you succeed.
As usual, read the lesson carefully and feel free to copy the example sentences I give you. Do this as often as necessary before moving on. This grammar course is now over. Thank you for reading it to the end and hope you enjoyed it.
As for me, I look forward to seeing you at the next course.
家 .
うち / いえ . the home
住む .
すむ . to live, to inhabit, to reside
コンビニ . the convenience store (abbr. from English word)
薔薇 .
バラ . the rose
向日葵 .
ひまわり . the sunflower
水仙 .
スイセン . the narcissus, the daffodil
桜の花 .
さくらのはな . the cherry blossom (in purely Japanese)
桜花 .
オウカ . the cherry blossom (in Sino-Japanese)
ショーウィンドウ . the show windows
Introduction