I'm trying to understand the difference between に and で as particles in the following example: 学校に勉強します。 学校で勉強します。 What are the nuances between these two expressions? Any help or explanation is very appreciated.
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3Where did you see the sentence 学校に勉強します?– LeeboCommented Jan 26 at 2:50
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Just wanted to mention that "I'm studying to school" doesn't make any sense in English either, it must be "I'm studying at school"– dvx2718Commented Jan 26 at 4:44
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@Leebo I didn't actually see the sentence, I just assumed it is correct because に is sometimes translated to 'at' in Japanese. For example, ケーキが冷蔵庫にある。I didn't realise that に can only be used with a select number of verbs like ある、いる、すむ.– Ruo SuCommented Jan 26 at 7:07
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I see, no problem. The reason I ask is because it helps the answerers know what the state of your knowledge is. More information about why the question is being asked helps out.– LeeboCommented Jan 27 at 1:03
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1 Answer
学校で勉強します is the only correct sentence. 学校に勉強します is ungrammatical.
に can be used when 1) the verb is a motion verb such as 行く and 歩く, or when 2) the verb is an existence verb such as いる or ある. When you "do something" somewhere, you need to use で to mark the location. See: Particles: に vs. で
(If you've already learned the ～に + motion verb construction) You can say 学校に勉強しに行きます ("I go to school to study").
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12) the verb is an existence verb such as いる or ある. Wanted to add that 住む (to live in) also counts as one of the "existence" verbs and uses に– dvx2718Commented Jan 26 at 4:48
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1I see! Thank you so much. So に can only be used with a select number of verbs while で is preferred when most actions are taking place.– Ruo SuCommented Jan 26 at 6:56