に Particle (Reason / Purpose) Japanese Grammar Lesson
Grammar Type: Particle
Essential Meaning: In order to do X / To do X
Construction:
- Verb ます-Form + に
- E.g. 話しに [In order to speak]
- E.g. 食べに [In order to eat]
Notes:
- に (Reason / Purpose) marks the reason or purpose for some movement and is thus paired with verbs that indicate movement from one place to another (e.g. 行く [To go], 来る [To come], 入る [To enter], 出る [To exit]). For example, if Joe is going shopping, ‘shopping‘ is the reason that Joe is ‘going‘, so the structure 買い物しに can be paired with the movement verb 行く, as in the below example.
- E.g. ジョーが買い物しに行きます。[Joe is going shopping (i.e. Joe is going out for the purpose of going shopping).]
- A common usage of this construction is to invite someone to go out for a drink or a meal.
- E.g. 飲みに行きましょうか。[Shall we go out for a drink?]
- E.g. 食べに行こうか。[Shall we go out to eat?]
- Verbs such as 歩く [To walk], 走る [To run], and 泳ぐ [To swim] represent manners of movement rather than movement from one place to another, so they are not usable with に (Reason / Purpose).
- E.g. *私は桜を見に公園を歩いた。[I walked through the park to see the cherry blossoms.] It is ungrammatical use に (Reason / Purpose) with a verb that indicates a manner of movement, such as walking.
- E.g. 私は桜を見に公園へ行った。[I went to the park to see cherry blossoms.]
- If the main verb in a Verb ます-Form + に structure is a する verb such as 質問する [To ask a question] or 仕事する [To work], the ます-Form of する (i.e. し) can optionally be omitted.
- E.g. 大山さんは仕事しに行った。[Oyama-san went there to work.]
- E.g. 大山さんは仕事に行った。[Oyama-san went there to work.] In this example, し is dropped.
- E.g. 学生が質問しに来た。[A student came to ask a question.]
- E.g. 学生が質問に来た。[A student came to ask a question.] In this example, し is dropped.
- ために expresses essentially the same thing as に (Reason / Purpose), the differences being:
- (1) ために can be used with any verb and not just with verbs of movement.
- E.g. 私は子供の写真を撮るためにカメラを買った。[I bought a camera in order to take pictures of my child.]
- (2) when ために is used with a verb of movement, the direction of movement (i.e. where the subject is going) must be specified unless it is clear from the context.
- E.g. *僕は酒を飲むために行った。[I went in order to drink sake.] This example is unacceptable because the sentence does not articulate where the subject is actually going.
- E.g. 僕は酒を飲むために友達の家に行った。[I went to my friend’s house in order to drink sake.] This example is acceptable because it clearly expresses both the reason AND direction of movement.
- (3) ために generally indicates a fairly important purpose, whereas に (Reason / Purpose) can be used to convey an insignificant purpose. Thus, it is more natural to use に (Reason / Purpose) to express casual reasons or purposes.
- E.g. 喫茶店へコーヒーを飲みに行った。[I went to the cafe to drink coffee.]
- E.g. *喫茶店へコーヒーを飲むためにいった。[I went to the cafe for the purpose of drinking coffee.] This sounds strange because it implies that drinking coffee is a crucial purpose. Generally speaking, going to a cafe is chill and casual.
- (1) ために can be used with any verb and not just with verbs of movement.
Example Sentences:
私はデパートへ贈り物を買いに行った。[I went to the department store in order to buy gifts.]
そこへ何をしに行くんですか。[For what purpose are you going over there?]
村井さんは昼ごはんを食べにうちへ帰った。[Murai-san returned home in order to eat lunch.]
WILD Examples:
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