I was talking to my Japanese friend about going to the hospital this Saturday. So I said to her “私は土曜日病院へ行きます。” She said that I should use に instead of へ because saying ”私は土曜日病院に行きます。” is more natural. I argued that using へ here is also grammatically correct, she agreed but said “にほうが自然。” She used “Welcome to Japan” as an example, she said that 日本へようこそ and 日本にようこそ are both grammatically correct but 日本にようこそ sounds unnatural and you will “not” hear it from the natives.
So it made me wonder if there are any rule, pattern or specific sentence where に instead of へ (and vice versa) is “sounds natural” when indicating direction or destination?
5 comments
I was trying to work out the nuance between these two particles recently, but each place I asked or looked up about it said they’re 100% interchangeable. I get the impression that you just have to find out what everyone in Japan normally says for each phrase.
In general, にis just more common, and will be used in most everyday situations. へ is mostly used in set phrases or more specific situations, such as addressing someone in a letter.
へ is used when you are talking about the direction and journey. に puts the emphasis on the destination of the verb.
Another usage of へ that you can’t do with に is use の after it. For example, “日本への旅行”.
The reason for that is へ focuses more on the noun, while に describes the establishment for an action or state. There is a much deeper connection between the parts before and after に, and this is true for all the different uses of に.
I’m so-so fluent and I’m using ni much more often (also in phrases, as was said, the one you mentioned (nantoka he youkoso) or in letters, missives and on envelopes ‘to Ken’ ケンへ, if that isn’t already 死語 these days); back then, I have learned that ni is much more ‘directed or aimed’ and that へ is denoting ‘a general direction/trajectory’.
にfocuses on where you end up. If you went to the hospital because of reasons, you want に.
If you’re going off into the direction of the hospital but go past it or don’t wind up there, ヘ.