Japanese Language Stack Exchange
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Questions tagged [に-and-で]

「に」と「で」. How to distinguish between the particles に and で.

There is some confusion about when to use に and when to use で, for example 映画【えいが】(に・で)みる. This tag is about their proper usage and the distinction between these two particles.

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8 answers

Particles: に vs. で

I have progressed pretty far in Japanese, but when I construct Japanese sentences, I still get these two particles mixed up. For example, when talking about being inside something, I don't know when to use "の中に" and when to use "の中で." Likewise, when…
language hacker
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What's the difference between に and で when speaking of time of an action?

What's the difference between に and で when speaking of the time of an action? I know に is very specific about time, but I'm not sure when, or how to use で. Can で only be used in certain instances? Supposing we want to say "After eating breakfast, I…
Miguel
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に vs で again: 前に vs 後で

Following the current trend of pitting the particles に and で against each other, here is another question that does the same but from another type of usage and perspective. When we want to say "do X before Y", we use "Y 前に X": 食べる前に「いただきます」と言う。 On…
Lukman
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後で vs. 前に. Why not the same particle?

Why don't 後で and 前に both use the same particle? (I suppose I would think に would be more appropriate.) They both seem to be the same kind of statement, just with different times (before/after), so I really can't think of any reason for the particle…
user3457
14
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4 answers

揺れる with に or で

I rarely have any problems with the に and で particles, but I have been a bit confused since seeing the word 揺れる in a few different sentences. As far as I know it is ok to say either: 旗が風に揺れている or 旗が風で揺れている Where you could of course replace 旗…
Lucas
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に and で revisited

Consider the statement A: ホテル（に/で）泊まる. For both cases would translate to "I stay at a hotel" in English. However they are answers to different questions. Consider the questions １．どこに泊まる　and ２．（ホテルで）何をする Question 1 would be answered with ホテルに（泊まる）,…
Flaw
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に vs で: 映画に見る vs 映画で見る

Branching off from the comments to this question: Do I say えいがにみました or えいがをみました　？: Preamble: The comment says 映画に見た is valid for "I saw it in a movie". I went to search for example sentences and found both に見た and で見た excluding adverbial types like…
Flaw
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Difference between では and には when the final verb is still ある?

So I was under the impression that で/に mostly depends on the final verb of the phrase, and that いる/ある requires に because it doesn't signify an action happening at a location. Tobira's 10th chapter has this sentence in the…
okedoke
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When to use で vs に vs nothing at all

There are a lot of post that describe the ambiguous scenarios when to use で vs に, but there are still many scenarios that are confusing, and sometimes I'm not sure if I should be using a particle at all. Here are a list of simple questions where the…
akami
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Strange usage of に particle

I saw an advertisement on the train that said 世界に友達を作りたい... My Japanese friend said that the difference with "世界で友達を作りたい" is that で means like "In the world" whilst に means "all over the world". I get that に is sort of like a means of highlighting…
Nathan
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What does 「で」mean in 「試合で 失敗しました」? Why not use 「に」?

I just did the listening Mondai 2 for Lesson 33 of Minna No Nihongo 2 (the older ver.). And in question 5, it says「山田君は 今の試合で 失敗しましたが、次の試合で 頑張ります。」 I've learned that you use 「に」before 「失敗する」, and I don't know why it uses 「で」here instead. What…
tomotomoya
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The difference between に and で when focusing on location vs. action

Consider these sentences (scenario 1): （私は）公園に花を植える。(I) plant flowers IN the park. (focus on the park) vs （私は）公園で花を植える。(I) PLANT flowers in the park. (focus on planting) First of all, I would like to know if this interpretation is…
shade549
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The use of で and に with 座る

I came across this example in Genki I .....まどの近くに座っています And I was wondering about the use of に here and if we can replace it with で to make ......まどの近くで座っています Is it correct? Please explain if possible. And thank you in advance.
ラザン
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紙に書きます or 紙で書きます – which is correct?

Why is the sentence 「紙で書きます」 not correct? Is it not the case that the 紙 is where the writing action takes place?
PeacockIris
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Why is に used in that sentence?

でもほんとに、エピソード21には涙が出るほど笑ったよ。 For some reason I feel like it would be better without the に (in bold) but I can't explain why. Another person said that で would be better but I think that it changes the meaning completely. I mean that （登場人物の）Aさんは…
永劫回帰
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