I want to climb smth: should I use に or を

Question

I'm a little confused about whether you should use に or を with the verb のぼります。Should we say 富士山に登りたいです or 富士山を登りたいです？ Also, I think the word 登ります is also used for describing the action of getting on a bus. Should we say ’バスに登ります？’ Thank you!

Answer 1

Both に and を are correct for your sentence, but they differ slightly in the nuance they have. So the short answer is: either one.

For the act of getting into a vehicle that has a roof, or onto a vehicle that doesn't have a roof, please use 乗{の}る. バスに登る is fine if you mean "climbing on the (top of the) bus".

According to this Japanese A to Z and this Hatena Blog blog entries, に suggests that the top of the mountain is the goal of one's trajectory, while を suggests that the mountain is the medium along which the motion takes place:

• 富士山に登る
• 山を登って学校へ行く