JapanForum.com - に and で prepositions

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Quote:

Originally Posted by jml5083 (Post 552123)

Though... no one answered the original question. Where to use ni and de? There must be rules regarding that. While someone mentioned animate versus inanimate... that I believe is talking about the verbs.

Although I have to admit... I couldn't tell you anything of what that sentence said by myself... I can still recognize sentence structure well enough. Sentence structure is so easy in Japanese ^_^

Maybe you should read the whole thread again. Actually it was answered the question and even explained the main use of the verbs of existence.

I did read the whole thread o.O

Quote:

Originally Posted by chryuop (Post 550783)

Where did you get the second example? I don't know Japanese that much, but I don't think it is correct (99% I am wrong tho LOL).
I could give you a detailed list of the Italian complements which correspond to で and に...but I think that would be the wrong way since they both can be stato in luogo (indicate a place). I will try to explain how they work so you won't need to translate them and it will be easier to use them.
に shows an area (space or time) where something, someone or an event exist.
Moreover it represents where an action ends (complemento di termine).
で shows the place where and action takes place. It is used also for other things like to indicate a price or again to show the means (complemento di mezzo).
Using some examples...
ﾚｽｵﾗﾝに犬がいます　　　in this case the dog exists in the restaurant
ﾚｽﾄﾗﾝで犬が食べます　 in this case the dog is eating at the restaurant, thus the action of eating is taking place at the restaurant.
Hopefully I didn't mess all up hee hee.
As I always say...trust more others than what I say :)

Well if you read the whole thread how could you miss this post? I see clearly explained how to use NI and DE.

Ah, Very good. I must have stopped reading that particular thread when I scanned "(99% I am wrong tho LOL)" and "Italian complements." - I don't know italian so even if there was anything to gain I wouldn't have guessed >.>

You don't, but the one who asked the question is Italian and he does.
Anyway no problem because as I said I didn't use any Italian complement, nor English ones. I just explained how they work.

DEARU is a more formal way of saying DESU

For the case of IRU, you should always に(NI).

In hunterXhunter, episode 36 Gon is playing a game and he has to guess in which hand a coin is. From your replies I guess that in order to say that the coin is in the left hand he should say "hidari ni"; however, in this episode Gon says (several times) "hidari de".
Does he use "de" instead of "ni" because it's an anime so he's talking a kind of slang, or because in this case it's right to use "de" instead of "ni"?

(sorry for my grammar :o ... I hope to have written in a comprehensible English... if not tell me and I'll try to rewrite the question)

DE is also used as the indicator of a "tool".

In this case the "tool" is the left hand.

はしでご飯を食べます。

I eat using chopsticks.

Gon is actually answering a precise question: IN which hand is the coin?
So the hand is supposed to be a place, not a tool (the question is not "which hand I'm using to hide the coin" or something like that)....

Quote:

Originally Posted by lucagalbu (Post 553242)

What's the question in Japanese? (Not the subtitles). Please write the whole exchange.

Japanese and English do not translate directly in many situations, so things like "place" and "tool/means of doing something" are not always the same in both languages.

He could be saying "Hidari de [ikimashyou]" meaning "Let's go with left" which is still the "tool/by means of" us of DE.