I want to say
In Japan, I want to ride a bullet train.
I have
にほん で ぼく は しんかんせん を のります。
Is 「にほん で」 correct? Should it be 「にほん に」? Or perhaps something else?
-
2I would suggest that you edit the English part a bit to say either 'I want to go to Japan to to ride a bullet train' or 'When I go to Japan I want to ride a bullet train', or 'I want to ride a Japanese bullet train', etc. – BJCUAI Sep 8 '19 at 1:45
-
1J, please try to avoid answering questions in the comment section. – Chocolate♦ Sep 8 '19 at 2:23
「にほん で ぼく は しんかんせん を のります。」
is a nice attempt.
I would, however, like to address two items here.
「のります」 simply means "will ride". If you want to say "want to ride", you might want to say 「のりたいです」.
「Verb in Continuative Form + たい」 means "to want to [verb]".
「のり」 is the continuative form of 「のる」.
The next thing I need to point out is the particle choice. We say 「しんかんせんにのる」 and not 「しんかんせんをのる」. That is because 「のる」 is an intransitive verb and thus, it cannot take 「を」.
is にほん で correct? should it be `にほん に"? Or perhaps something else.
It is correct. You cannot use 「に」 unless the verb is "stative". 「のる / のりたい」 is not stative.
Stative verbs are 「すむ」(to live), 「いる」(to be),「たいざいする」(to stay), etc. Those should take 「に」.
Therefore, the correct (by any standard) sentence will be:
「にほん で ぼく は しんかんせん に のりたいです。」
-
1"That is because 「のる」 is an intransitive verb and thus, it cannot take 「を」." I'd argue it's the other way around:「のる」happens to not be able to take「を」and therefore it falls into the category we call "intransitive". But maybe that's just me. Also, it's more of a philosophical point. – Arthur Sep 8 '19 at 21:55
l'électeur’s answer is substantially correct, but since “In Japan” is setting the context for the rest of the sentence, I'd say
にほん で は､ ぼく が…
And in fact you could probably leave out ぼく が, and just say
にほん で は､ しんかんせん に のりたい です。
since the listener will infer that the subject of のりたい is ぼく.
