Particles “へ” and “に”

Particles “he” and “ni”

Common uses

• Location marker
• Target marker

Grammar elements

• へ／に

In most Japanese textbooks, the destination particle (i.e., 学校に行く) can be either に or へ. However, in Kansai, most people just use へ. Similarly, while In standard Japanese the objective particle (i.e., 買い物に行く) has to be に, へ can also be used in Kansai-ben. However, for the location partical (i.e., いすの下に), only に can used both in standard Japanese and Kansai-ben.

Examples

Destination particle へ

Standard	３時ごろ、学校に行くよ。
Kansai-ben	３時ごろ、学校へ行くわ。
English	I'm going to school around 3 o'clock.

Objective particle へ

Standard	買い物に行ってきたんだ。
Kansai-ben	買いもんへ行ってきてん。
English	I went shopping.

Location particle に

Standard	いすの下にねこがいる。
Kansai-ben	いすの下にねこがおる。
English	There's a cat under the chair.