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What particle should be used for a place of action (or a place to go?) in case of using V-2+に行く construction? E.g.

食堂 _ 食べに行きます。

At one hand, 食堂 is a place of action (eating) and で-particle should be used. At the other hand, it's a place to go, so に-particle should be used. However, the last case seems a bit strange to me, because a verb 行きます already has an object with に-particle - 食べに.

So what's the correct particle to be used in such cases? Maybe both particles are acceptable? - In this case does a choice of particle carry any meaning?

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に(へ)~しに行く means "to go to the place in order to ~ ( to go to the place for the purpose of ~). For example, レストランに食べに行きます( I got to a restaurant to eat). I think 食堂で食べに行きます is unnatural because we don't say place+で+行く. However you can say 毎日昼飯を大学の食堂で食べます, which means "I eat lunch at a refectory in my university ever day.)".

I think you understood them correctly because you knew で is used for a place of action and に is used for a place to go. It is no problem that a verb 行きます already has an object with に-particle.

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  • へ-particle is also possible? Is there any difference between using へ and に here?
    – stop-cran
    Sep 14, 2017 at 11:58
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    Yes. The difference is little. に emphasizes the location and へ emphasizes the direction. Sep 14, 2017 at 12:11

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