In Japanese, there are a lot of particles you can use to describe directions. It can be kind of confusing when they seem to mean the same thing.
Let’s look at a few common particles used for directions, so you can hone your skills of asking for and giving directions in Japanese.
What Particle Do I Use: Directions
Japanese Particle Direction : Ni (に)
The particle you’ll probably hear the most with directions is ni (に). Ni is a particle that has a lot of different uses (my grammar book lists seven, and that’s not even counting all the times you combine it with other words). But today we’re just going to look at how it’s used to describe direction.
The English translation of ni used this way would be either “to” or “toward.” However, it’s more specific than its English equivalents.
Ni means going towards a specific point. So you could say something like “I went to the train station,” by saying “Eki ni ikimashita” (駅に行きました). This sentence defines the train station as you specific destination.
This may seem pretty obvious, but this distinction is actually pretty important when you’re trying to decide if another particle would work better.
Japanese Particle Direction : E (へ)
This is the other particle you may hear pretty often, and at first it seems to mean pretty much the exact same thing as ni. But it’s a little different.
E can also be translated into English as “to” or “toward,” but the meaning behind it isn’t the same. The particle e shows a more general direction. The destination in a sentence with e isn’t always where the subject ends up, it’s just the direction they’re going.
In English, we make this distinction using context more than word choice. When I distinguish between these two particles in my head, I tend to think of ni as “to” and e as “toward.” These translations aren’t perfect, but it just helps me keep the ideas separate.
One rule to keep in mind is that if the particle is followed by no (の), it can’t be ni. This means you can say “The bus going to Kyoto” as “Kyoto e no basu” (京都へのバス), but you can’t say “Kyoto ni no basu.” Trust me, it sounds really weird if you try.
Japanese Particle Direction : Kara (から) and Made (まで)
I’m keeping kara and made together because they somewhat go together. Both of these particles specify a specific point. Kara marks a starting point, and made marks an ending point.
These particles can be really useful when giving directions. They can be more descriptive than ni or e, so it’s good to be familiar with them.
Kara is usually translated into English as “from” or “since.” Like ni, it has other uses, and this use can apply to things like time as well. But to use it in an example for directions, let’s look at our train station example from before.
If you change out the particle (and change the verb so it sounds a bit more normal) and say “Eki kara demashita” (駅から出ました), that means “I left the station.” The kara just marks the station as your beginning point.
Made marks an ending point, so we can translate it as “until,” “up to,” or “as far as.” This particle can also be used with time, but we’re just going to look at our train station example again. You can say “Eki made ikimashita” (駅まで行きました), which would mean “I went as far as the train station.”
This sentence is pretty similar to using ni or e, but with context it can be somewhat different. You might use this sentence if your intended destination wasn’t the train station. Maybe you were trying to go to a restaurant, but you only made it as far as the train station before you had to stop for some reason.
Just like English, context is still going to be important when talking about directions in Japanese.
Japanese particle : De (で)
De isn’t a directional particle, but I’m including it because a lot of people I know who studied Japanese with me got confused by this one.
The particle de marks the place of an action. It works kind of the same way as the English word “at.” So if you want to say “I ate at the bakery,” you could say “Panya de tabemashita” (パン屋で食べました).
There’s no real direction with this particle, as it just specifies a point where an action takes place. The exception with this is talking about where something exists. If you’re using iru (いる) or aru (ある) as your verb, you use the particle ni.
You will probably hear this particle if your asking for or giving directions, but it won’t be to say which direction to go. It’ll be something more like “At the stoplight…” or “Shingou de…” (信号で…). It’s good to know how to use this particle as well to understand directions.
How Will This Help Me?
If you go to Japan, you’re probably going to have to ask for or give directions at one point or another. Knowing the difference between all these particles can help you describe things more clearly as well as understand them.
Particles can be kind of tricky sometimes, but if you practice and study, you’ll be able to get them down. Then you’ll be sounding like a native in no time.