1

自由に歩いて。

人の中に心臓がある。

学校に行きます。

If I'm correct:

  1. Walk freely. (Walk in freedom)

  2. Inside a person there's a heart.

  3. I go to school.

So, I'd want to understand why 「に」 covers both "to" and "in".

A possible theory that I have thought of is that in sentences similar to 2, the literal translation is in fact: "There's a heart to (に) the inside of a person" Is this solution correct? Am I missing something or some cases for which it wouldn't be correct?

Also, as in sentences one, why are na-adj. followed by 「に」 rather 「で」when they explain a manner?

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  • 6
    Related: japanese.stackexchange.com/a/16270/5010 (I think you are thinking too much from an English speaker's point of view. From a Japanese PoV, English words like "to" and "in" are very confusing and unpredictable. I still do not know why you say "in April" but not "in Sunday"...)
    – naruto
    Mar 9, 2020 at 16:56
  • 3
    'English (language)' would probably be a better term than 'Western' here. I doubt all languages that could be considered Western agree with each on this. Also, @naruto, not even all varieties of English agree on some uses of these words. Americans say 'on the weekend', but in my area of England at least we say 'at the weekend'.
    – Angelos
    Mar 9, 2020 at 17:17
  • There are fun regional variants all over the place for English and prepositions. Consider too the Irish-Gaelic-influenced English in Newfoundland, with common expressions like "what are you at" (what are you doing) and "where are you to" (where are you), compared to mid-East-Coast US usage "what are you up to" and "where are you", occasionally "where are you at". Fun stuff, and slippery to nail down.
    – Eiríkr Útlendi
    Mar 9, 2020 at 17:56
  • @naruto From a native English speaker's standpoint, we say 'in April' as April is a month, and therefore has a longer timeframe for stuff to occur than a single day. There's a possible correlation of Sunday being commonly used as a adverbial noun, whereas April is used as just a noun, from what I've seen in my own personal experience, at least.
    – Toyu_Frey
    Mar 11, 2020 at 3:29
  • This question doesn't make sense, what are "Western concepts" embodied in two English prepositions, and why does the writer think that "ni" covers English prepositions, and then why does the writer give completely random examples which don't illustrate what uses of to and in he is referring to?
    – user36788
    Mar 11, 2020 at 13:37

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