Today we will see the particle へ. Before going any further, first know that the particle へ is not pronounced « he » but « e ».
In Japanese, with the particle へ, we can indicate the place towards which we are heading. It is used with verbs of directional movement.
To summarize, here are the verbs with which we can use the particle へ.
行く .
いく . to go, to head, to walk over
来る .
くる . to come
帰る .
かえる . to return, to come back (new verb)
戻る .
もどる . to come back, to retrace his steps (new verb)
向かう .
むかう . to turn to, to direct, to face (new verb)
進む .
すすむ . to progress, to advance, to move towards (new verb)
Please understand that the particle へ can only be used with verbs of directional movement. The verbs 歩く . あるく which means « to walk » and 泳ぐ . およぐ which means « to swim » are verbs of movement but they do not express the idea of direction. They therefore cannot be used with the particle へ.
Now observe the following examples carefully analyzed :
私は徒歩で白雪の家へ行く。
わたしはとほでしらゆきのいえへいく。
I go towards the house of Shirayuki (Snow White) on foot.
(白雪 . しらゆき is the Japanese name for « Snow White ».)
In the sentence above we have the verb 行く . いく which means « to go » and which is a verb of movement. The place to which the topic of my sentence, 私 . わたし, is heading is Shirayuki’s house, 白雪の家 . しらゆきのいえ. So, I place the particle へ just after the place to which the topic of my sentence is heading.
Now let’s take a look at some more examples to make sure you’ve got it all figured out :
南山はラーメン屋へ行く。
みなみやまはラーメンやへいく。
Minamiyama walks over to the ramen restaurant.
銀子はバイクで東京へ行く。
ぎんこはバイクでとうきょうへいく。
Ginko is heading for Tokyo by motorbike.
絵里は風夏の所へ向かう。
えりはふうかのところへむかう。
Eri walks over to Fuuka.
(Lit : Eri walks to Fuuka’s place.)
You saw it in the examples. The use of this particle is not very complicated. However, remember that there is a small nuance between the particle に and the particle へ which means that in Japanese, the particle へ is used very little.
The particle へ indicates the direction, which implies the point of arrival. But there is another particle in Japanese that indicates the point of arrival : the particle に.
For the little reminder, we saw a first use of the particle に in the previous lesson, it 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.
Well, its second use is to indicate the point of arrival, which is different from the direction.
And yet, here are some examples of the use of the particle に to indicate the end point / point of arrival :
サムス・アランは地球に来る。
サムス・アランはちきゅうにくる。
Samus Aran comes to Earth.
In the sentence above we have :
– A verb of movement, 来る . くる.
– The particle に which, in this sentence, is the point of arrival’s particle.
– A point of arrival, 地球.
I now give you another example :
フォックスチームは高速でリトルプラネットに戻る。
フォックスチームはこうそくでリトルプラネットにもどる。
The Fox team returns to Little Planet at high speed.
In the sentence above we have :
– A verb of movement, 戻る . もどる.
– The particle に which, in this sentence, is the point of arrival’s particle.
– A point of arrival, リトルプラネット.
Well ! I now take a sentence with the particle へ we’ve seen above :
銀子はバイクで東京へ行く。
ぎんこはバイクでとうきょうへいく。
Ginko is heading for Tokyo by motorbike.
I’m only going to replace the particle へ with the particle に, which gives me :
銀子はバイクで東京に行く。
ぎんこはバイクでとうきょうにいく。
Ginko goes to Tokyo by motorbike.
We have the same verb, and because we changed the particle へ by the particle に, the word 東京 .トウキョウ has become the point of arrival and no longer the direction in which the topic of my sentence is heading.
You will notice that in the English translation I did my best to translate the Japanese sentence as closely as possible depending on the particle used.
At this point, I think that for most of you, the subtle difference between the particle へ and the particle に is quite difficult to detect. Just know that this subtle difference exists.
In fact, the Japanese themselves use almost exclusively the particle に rather than the particle へ since, in the end, the difference between the two particles is not very important and does not fundamentally change the meaning of the sentence.
Now that you’ve got that right, we can move on to the conclusion.
Before I leave you, I’ll give you your exercises, as usual some theme and version. In the first exercise, you will have to translate sentences that include the use of the direction particle へ and other sentences including the use of the point of arrival’s particle に into Japanese. Pay attention to the way the English sentences are formulated to know which particle to use. And in the second exercise, it will simply be the other way around.
Obviously, before starting the next lesson, I invite you to reread this lesson and the vocabulary list below, to reread the first lesson on the particle に and to practice again and again.
I wish you much courage and we will see you in the next chapter.
徒歩で .
トホで. on foot
ラーメン屋 .
ラーメンや . the ramen restaurant
地球 .
チキュウ . the Earth
リトルプラネット . Little Planet
The place where we are heading