Some questions

i've recently begun learning Japanese, the textbook i use is "genki". but, besides the point. can anyone help me a little? i don't understand a few things.. thank you!
1. what's the difference between で and に?
my book says で "indicates where the event described by the verb takes place" and gives this examples:
1.としょかんで本をよみます。
２.うちでテレビをみます。
and it says に is "The goal toward which things move."
1.わたしは今日がつこうに行きません。
２．私はうちに帰ります。
what's the difference? i don't want to make a bad habit of using these two wrongly, so someone please help me ^^ when to use に, when to use で？
2. okay, i think this might be silly.. how can i translate a japanese sentence? i mean, not translate, but .. understand it? one sentence could mean many things! like,
私は図書館で日本語をべんきょうします。
this could mean "I will study japanese in the library", 'I'm going to study japanese in the library", "I study japanese in the library', etc. am i just thinking too much? I was thinking it had something to do with the verb conjugation, but i don't know! it's really making me angry, i feel like i should be able to understand this. but i don't.
I'm kind of sorta confused with all of this stuff. i don't want to learn this language horribly wrong! :[ I'm devoted (I've been studying for like 4 hours every day) but i don't want to learn it all wrong . .
thanks for any help you all can pass to this struggling 14 year(me..)!! ^^

sabelle

There are lots of good websites on the exact meanings of the particles (just google it) but 窶堙 is more for describing a place where something is/will/has happened.
窶堙 is more for describing a movement, or action of movement. So, if you see, 窶堙 is maybe more like the English equivalent of doing something "in" a place. 窶堙 is more like when you are going somewhere.

Obviously they can be used in different situations, esp. 窶堙? but you will pick this up as you study. I'm also studying using Genki and to be honest, if you can get the general jist of a chapter, just keep going and learning vocab. Eventually you will get it, the more examples you do. Every now and again, go back and look over chapters and see if it makes more sense.

As for translating, try not to get frustrated. All the different options you listed all essentially have the same meaning. However, i'm guessing you are something like several chapters into Genki so don't be too hard on yourself.

Hope some of that helps, I'm too tired to type anymore just now. Best of luck to you

Ryuk said:

So, if you see, で is maybe more like the English equivalent of doing something "in" a place. に is more like when you are going somewhere.

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Though there is overlap of course, 'at' is probably a better fit for 'de' than 'in.'

You will learn other uses for them later, and really it isnt worth getting too stressed about particles, but here are 3 basic ways to remember movement/location particles.

で indicates that you or someone else is doing some movement, activity, etc at a place. Before で there will be a location, and after で someone will be doing something there.

Library で reading a book. としょかんで本を読む。
Care で drinking coffee. きっさてんでコーヒーを飲む。

As you can see, the verbs here are action verbs. They are things you can do at a certain place.


に and から and へ (pronounced e but typed he) indicates movement towards or from a place. Before に and へ is a location, and afterwords there will be a movement verb like 行く, かえる、 くる etc.

library に went 図書館に行った。
America から came アメリカから来ました。
house へ return うちへかえる

Note the difference between a movement verb and an action verb. Movement verbs move between places while action verbs do things at places.

に can also be used as a location particle. In that case, it is usually followed by あります or います and in both cases the translation would be something like 'there is'

school に students 学校にせいとがいます
bath に hot water おふろにおゆがあります。

To recap:

で is followed by an action verb indicates something happened somewhere.

に, へ、から is followed by a movement verb and indicates movement towards a place

に、 when followed by an existence verb such as imasu or arimasu, indicates something exists at a place (but, unlike with で above, the sentence does not specify anything about the thing other than the fact that it is at the location. で specificies some action)


And as for your worry about translating, try not to worry about it. In real life, there is always context to be your guide. You will never be handed a piece of paper saying 学校に行きます。 and be forced to make a decision based on something so vague.

blorp said:

私は図書館で日本語をべんきょうします。
this could mean "I will study japanese in the library", 'i'm going to study japanese in the library"

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Its important when thinking conceptually about a foreign language to be able to look critically at one's own language. Obviously you can say two different sentences like the ones above, but is there any real difference between the two?

For example, imagine the following:

Someone asks you in English, 'Hey what are you going to do this afternoon?' and you respond 'I'm going to study in the library...oh wait, ****, I didnt mean that, I meant 'I will study in the library.' '

Pretty silly huh? Don't get caught up trying to overanalyze how to convert the Japanese to English. Concentrate instead on imagining situations where you would have to use the Japanese and trying to think of how you would manage the situation in Japanese. I.e., spend your time thinking about how you would answer, for example, 'Where is my book?' when it is in the bedroom, instead of spending your time thinking about how to translate 'Your book is in the bedroom.'