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Help with using ni

wizcoder

後輩
4 Jul 2014
108
4
28
Hi,
So I know you use に when it comes to movement or describing where you are going or where you went.
In example I would recognize any sentence like this.
わたしはきょうとにいきました。
たけしさんもきょうとにいきました。
Where I am in the book, a question like this appears:
あなたのまちににほんのレストランがありますか
And it translate to "Do you have a japanese restaurant in your city/town".
What I don't understand is why is に used after "city" because nothing in the sentence is about travelling somewhere or going to a location but rather asking about a place in the city.
The other examples also use に after each place but I don't see why and in the book they say they will further discuss the に but I haven't seen the meaning other from what they told me. The books exact words "The particle に has many meanings, but here we will learn two: (1) the goal toward which things move, and (2) the time at which an event takes place."
Why is it used during a question but not to go somewhere?
 
Sounds like you're using Genki. Look at page 77, it's explained there:

Note that あります is different from other verbs we have seen so far. It calls for the particle に, rather than で, for the place description.

So indeed, *normally* で is used for things that happen at a location while に is for things that go toward a location, but います/あります make an exception. They use に to indicate the location even though the action consists of merely being present there.
 
Sounds like you're using Genki. Look at page 77, it's explained there:



So indeed, *normally* で is used for things that happen at a location while に is for things that go toward a location, but います/あります make an exception. They use に to indicate the location even though the action consists of merely being present there.

Found it, thanks alot!
 
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