Dictionary form of verb followed by に

Question

I've recently begun noticing that occasionally I'll see a dictionary form of the verb followed by the particle に, for example:

1.)まだ学校へ行くには早い時間です。 It's still too early to go to school.

I've been kind of confused by it since from my experience normally the dictionary form of verbs are followed by a nominalizer の　or こと before a particle. For example:

2.)まだ学校へ行くのは早い時間です。

3.)まだ学校へ行くのに早い時間です。

What is the general function of に directly following the dictionary form of a verb and how is it generally used? How would sentence 1's meaning differ from sentences 2 and 3?

Answer 1

Here, には means "in order to" or "for the purpose of". In sentences that use this expression, the predicate often expresses the necessity for or importance of using a specific means. You can use the nominalizer の if you choose to, and it won't change the meaning: まだ学校へ行くのには早い時間です。

This には can also come after a noun, as in このかばんは長旅には便利だ (This bag is suitable for long trips).

There are many other expressions involving に that can attach to verbs (or i-adjectives and other interesting things) including:

にしては

にちがいない

に当たって

にもかかわらず

に従って

に過ぎない

につれて

Source: A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar