Differentiate 'niwa" and "ni" when indicating a position

Question

I am here again! I am just starting learning this amazing language and thanks for everyone's help.

So I heard that to say "I speak fast in English" I say:

Egoniwa hayakuhanashimasu.

What does the particle "niwa" help in hear. Similarly, when I say "I have 7 people in my family" I say:

Kazuhanimwa ichijinin imasu (not sure of spelling).

However, when I say "my children are in America" (I don't have any), I say:

watashino kudomawa americani imasu.

So what do "niwa" and "ni" have in common or what are their differences?

Correct me if I misunderstood anything. And thanks again for everyone's help!

Answer 1

Both に and は are very common Japanese particles, with completely different purposes.

• に ("ni") is a place marker, like English 'in' or 'at'.
• は ("wa") is a topic marker. It's somewhat similar to English 'speaking of ～' or 'regarding ～'.
• に and は can be combined, and the meaning is just the combination of the two. It's translated as "In ～, ..." at the beginning of the sentence.

I speak English fast.

Perhaps you have misheard something. You don't need the place marker に ("ni") to say this, and I have no idea how I can use に. You only need the topic marker は, which replaces を ("o"), the object marker. (Read "Object as Topic" section in this page if you are not sure)

えいごは はやく はなします。
Eigo wa hayaku hanashimasu.
(lit. "As for English, [I] speak [it] fast.")

I have 7 people in my family.

Your "Japanese" sentence has a lot of spelling errors, but did you want to say the following?

かぞく に は しちにん います。
Kazoku ni wa shichi-nin imasu.
(lit. "In my family, seven (people) exist.")

Okay, this is not very natural, but at least grammatical and understandable. Here, かぞく is marked with both the place marker and the topic marker simultaneously. に is used (but actually not required in this case) because you're talking about who is in your family. は is required because かぞく is the topic of the whole sentence.

My children are in America.

わたし の こども は アメリカ に います。
watashi no kodomo wa america ni imasu.
(lit. "As for my children, [they] exist in America.")

Again I corrected the obvious spelling errors. In this case, アメリカ is marked with only に, because the topic of this sentence is something else.

Answer 2

Your first and second sentences are unnatural. には isn't appropriate in them. The first is translated as "私は、英語は(を)速く話す。". The second is translated as "家族は七人います。".

The third makes sense and you can use both に and には as 私の子供は、アメリカに(には)います. You need to learn the usage of は to know the difference between に and には. は is mainly used as a topic maker, contrast, and emphasis. The second は in this sentence indicates contrast(it implies "My children aren't in any country except America") and emphasis.

Answer 3

1) You wrote:

Egoniwa hayakuhanashimasu.

Correct:

Eigo ni ha(wa) hayaku hanashimasu.　(Romaji)
えいご　に　は　はやく　はなします。 (Hiragana)
英語　に　は　早く　話します。 (Kanji)

2) You wrote:

Kazuhanimwa ichijinin imasu.

Correct:

Kazoku ni ha(wa) nana(seven) nin ga imasu.　(Romaji)
かぞく　に　は　なな　にん　います。 (Hiragana)
家族　に　は　七　人　います。 (Kanji)

3) You wrote:

watashino kudomawa americani imasu.

Correct:

Watashi no kodomo ha(wa) america ni imasu.　(Romaji)
わたし　の　こども　は　あめりか　に　います。 (Hiragana)
私　の　子供　は　アメリカ(katakana here)　に　います。 (Kanji)

1) If you want to say with help of what language you can speak quickly, in the first case it is better to use で(de).

2) In the second case には(niwa) is used to point, in what exactly family you have 7 people(in my family).

3) In third case we do not make our statement stronger and use just に(ni). Children in America somewhere(do not point, in what city or state exactly)

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