に vs. で for Location in Japanese: Existence vs. Action

に vs で for location in Japanese is the particle choice a beginner faces as soon as two correct-looking sentences differ by one character. 学校にいる ("I am at school") and 学校で勉強する ("I study at school") use the same noun but different particles.¹ The verdict is mechanical: existence and arrival take に; an action being performed takes で.^{1 2 3} Three cases bend the rule, and the page is sorted so a skim of the headings is enough to find any one of them.

Overview

Why the choice is hard

Both に and で can attach to the same place noun, and both often appear in English as "at" or "in." The verb, not the noun, resolves the ambiguity.^{1 2 3} A learner who picks the particle by looking at 学校 will often guess wrong. A learner who picks it by looking at いる vs 勉強する gets it right every time.^{1 4}

The English preposition is the source of most beginner errors. "At" can suggest existence even with action verbs. That is why × 本屋に本を買った is one of the highest-frequency mistakes in N5 writing.^{3 5} Buying is something the subject does, so the place takes で.³

The diagnostic question this article is built on

Ask one thing of every sentence: does the verb describe existence or arrival, or does it describe an action being performed? Existence or arrival takes に. Action takes で. Every section below either applies this question or shows a place where it bends.^{1 6 7}

学校がっこうに います。²
"I am at school."

学校がっこうで 勉強べんきょうします。⁸
"I study at school."

The one diagnostic question

The single decision rule that handles the bulk of N5 cases is the existence-vs-action question stated above. The rule is verb-driven: pick the particle by what the verb is doing, not by what the place noun looks like.^{1 9}

The rule has two matching halves. If the verb names a state of being (ある, いる, 住む) or an arrival point (行く, 来る, 帰る, 着く, 入る), the place noun is the anchor. に is correct.^{1 2} If the verb names something the subject does over time (勉強する, 遊ぶ, 食べる, 働く), the place noun is the stage on which the action plays out. で is correct.^{1 10 3}

The rule has three places where it bends. The rest of the article resolves them one at a time: stative-residence verbs that feel like English actions (住む, 勤める), borderline action-state verbs that flip on result reading (寝る, 座る, 立つ), and the event-ある construction, where ある means "take place" rather than "exist" and licenses で.^{1 11 12 13}

庭にわに 犬いぬが います。⁸
"There is a dog in the garden."

公園こうえんで 遊あそびます。²
"I play in the park."

駅えきに 着つきました。⁶
"I arrived at the station."

Where this article fits

This page is the focused N5 / N4 comparison. The full inventory of senses for each particle (に has six, で has five) lives in the dedicated articles on each particle. Those articles point back here for the location-contrast question specifically.^{1 6 7}

Out of scope, by design: time uses (に for time-points, で for time-frames), means uses (バスで行く), and the path-of-motion を (公園を歩く). These uses are real, but they are cross-linked rather than re-taught here.^{1 6 7}

The core rule: existence vs. action

に marks the location of existence or destination

に marks the place where someone or something exists, stays, or is located. It also marks the endpoint of a motion verb.^{1 9 2 12} The verb is stative-existence (ある, いる, 住む, 勤める, 泊まる) or arrival (行く, 来る, 帰る, 着く, 入る, 戻る). The noun is the fixed point the verb is anchored to.^{1 14}

A useful Tofugu metaphor is that に is a pushpin on a map: it pins a single point that the verb is anchored to.¹⁴ The verbs that take に for place are the ones whose meaning is satisfied by naming that point, not by naming an activity that unfolds on it.^{1 14}

机つくえの 上うえに 本ほんが あります。⁸
"There is a book on the desk."

東京とうきょうに 住すんで います。¹¹
"I live in Tokyo."

学校がっこうに 行いきます。⁸
"I go to school."

ホテルに 泊とまりました。¹⁵
"I stayed at a hotel."

で marks the location where an action takes place

で marks the place where an action takes place. The verb is a dynamic event, something the subject does over time: 勉強する, 遊ぶ, 食べる, 飲む, 読む, 書く, 働く, 走る, 泳ぐ, 会う, 待つ.^{1 8 7 10 5} The structural pattern is [place-noun + で] + [event verb].

The companion Tofugu metaphor is that で "is like the lines that demarcate the edges of a volleyball court." It draws the boundary inside which the action plays out.¹⁰ The place noun is the stage, not the destination or anchor.^{10 2}

The で class is open: it covers nearly every dynamic action verb in Japanese. The に class from the previous section is closed. Everything else defaults to で.

図書館としょかんで 本ほんを 読よみました。¹⁶
"I read a book at the library."

レストランで 食たべます。⁵
"I eat at a restaurant."

海うみで 泳およぎました。⁵
"I swam in the sea."

本屋ほんやで 本ほんを 買かいました。³
"I bought a book at the bookstore."

The minimal-pair test

The cleanest demonstration of the rule uses the same place noun and the same verb stem, with only the particle swapped: 森に家を建てた vs 森で家を建てた. The first means "a house was built in the forest, and the house is now there." The second means "the act of building took place in the forest, and the house may not be there."¹³ The particle alone carries the difference between a result location and an action scene.

Both sentences are grammatical. Both translate to English "I built a house in the forest." Only the Japanese particle disambiguates where the result of the action ends up.¹³ The English translation cannot reproduce the contrast; the Japanese particle is doing work the English preposition does not.

森もりに 家いえを 建たてた。¹³
"I built a house in the forest." (The house now stands in the forest; に names the result location.)

森もりで 家いえを 建たてた。¹³
"I built a house in the forest." (The building work happened in the forest; the house may have been moved.)

The same logic applies to other build / write / put verbs. 机に手紙を書いた reads as "wrote a letter onto the desk's surface" (the letter is on the desk). 机で手紙を書いた reads as "wrote a letter at the desk" (the writing happened there; the letter may have been mailed).³ The result-location reading licenses に even with an apparent action verb, because the noun names where the result ends up, not where the action happens.³

机つくえに 手紙てがみを 書かいた。³
"I wrote a letter on the desk." (Result: the letter is on the desk's surface.)

机つくえで 手紙てがみを 書かいた。³
"I wrote a letter at the desk." (Activity: the desk was where I sat.)

The verb decides: a sortable list

Verbs that take に (existence and arrival)

A small, closed list of verbs takes に for the place argument. These verbs name a state of existence or a point of arrival, not an action that unfolds over time.^{1 8 2 12} These are the verbs to memorise as に-verbs. Everything else takes で.^{1 3}

Verb	Type	Why に
ある	stative existence (inanimate)	the place is where the thing is8
いる	stative existence (animate)	the place is where the person or animal is8
住む	residence	living somewhere is a state, not an action11
勤める	membership / employment	names the affiliation between person and organisation17
泊まる	overnight stay	stative occupation of lodging12 15
座っている, 立っている	resulting state	the te-iru form names the result, not the action2 3
行く, 来る, 帰る	motion arrival	the place is where the motion ends up8 6
着く	arrival	the place is the endpoint of motion6
入る, 戻る, 上がる	directed motion with endpoint	the place is the goal of entry or return6 15

The unifying pattern is simple: the verb either names no action at all (ある, いる, 住む, 勤める, 泊まる) or names a motion whose meaning is completed by reaching the place (行く, 着く, 入る). In both cases, the place is the anchor, not the stage.^{1 14 2}

One step past N5: the 勤める and event-ある readings

Two of the に-verb readings sit slightly above N5 as vocabulary. 勤める is N3 vocabulary and names the membership relation between person and organisation (銀行に勤めている = "I am employed at a bank"). The activity of working is 働く and takes で.^{1 17} Separately, ある has a second lexical reading, "take place / be held," that licenses で even though existence-ある takes に (パーティーは渋谷である = "the party is in Shibuya").^{1 13} Both are flagged here so the closed list looks complete. The borderline section and the Good-to-Know notes return to them.

銀行ぎんこうに 勤つとめて います。¹⁷
"I work at a bank." (勤める is the employment-membership verb; に, never で.)

温泉おんせん旅館りょかんに 泊とまりました。¹⁵
"I stayed at a hot-spring inn."

部屋へやに 入はいって ください。⁶
"Please enter the room."

椅子いすに 座すわって います。³
"[She] is sitting in the chair." (Resulting state; に, not で.)

Verbs that take で (action)

The default particle for place is で. Any verb that names a dynamic action, something the subject does over time, takes で for the place where the action happens, except for the closed list above.^{1 8 7 3} The class is open. It includes 食べる, 飲む, 読む, 書く, 勉強する, 働く, 遊ぶ, 走る, 泳ぐ, 寝る, 起きる, 会う, 待つ, 買う, 売る, 教える, 習う, 歌う, 踊る, 話す, 聞く, 見る, and the long tail of action verbs from N5 onward.^{8 18 3 16}

High-frequency N5 patterns fall into a few families: doing activities (学校で勉強する, 公園で遊ぶ, 海で泳ぐ), consuming (レストランで食べる, 図書館で本を読む), buying and selling (本屋で本を買う), and meeting and waiting (駅で待つ, 駅で友達に会う).^{8 18 16 5}

The English "at" or "in" maps to で in nearly every action context. The mismatch is on the existence side (the closed に-list above), not the action side.^{1 3}

図書館としょかんで 勉強べんきょうします。⁸
"I study at the library."

会社かいしゃで 働はたらいて います。¹¹
"I work at a company." (働く is the dynamic action verb; で.)

駅えきで 待まちます。³
"I will wait at the station."

スーパーで 食たべ物ものを 買かいました。¹⁶
"I bought food at the supermarket."

The borderline verbs (and the reason they're borderline)

Some verbs genuinely flip particle by context rather than belonging cleanly to one list or the other. They sit on the boundary because their English glosses are ambiguous between state and action.^{1 11 12} N5 / N4 learners get these wrong not because the Japanese rule is unclear, but because the English gloss does not disambiguate.^{3 11}

Verb	Verdict	Why
住む (live, reside)	always に	grammatically stative; the residing is a state, not an action11 16
勤める (be employed at) vs 働く (work)	勤める に, 働く で	same English "work," two Japanese verbs: membership vs activity11 17
泊まる (stay overnight)	always に	names the state of being lodged at a place12 15
寝る (sleep, lie down)	で by default; に for destination-of-lying-down	sleep-as-action: ベッドで寝る; lie down into: ベッドに寝てください11
起きる (get up, occur)	で	daily-action reading is plain action-location; the event reading generalises3
座る (sit down)	で for action; に for destination and resulting state	椅子に座る "sit down into"; 椅子に座っている "be seated"2 3
立つ (stand up)	parallel to 座る	destination-に is common; 立っている locks to に2 3

The pattern across the borderline verbs is this: the verb names an action that immediately becomes a state, and the particle follows the reading the speaker commits to. The te-iru form (寝ている as "lying," 座っている, 立っている) consistently locks to に because te-iru names the resulting state, not the action.^{2 3}

銀行ぎんこうに 勤つとめて います。¹⁷
"I am employed at a bank." (Membership: 勤める takes に.)

銀行ぎんこうで 働はたらいて います。¹¹
"I work at a bank." (Action: 働く takes で.)

ベッドで 寝ねます。¹¹
"I sleep in the bed." (Action; で.)

ベッドに 寝ねて ください。¹¹
"Please lie down in the bed." (Destination of lying-down; に.)

椅子いすに 座すわって います。³
"[I] am sitting in the chair." (Resulting state; に, not で.)

Nuance and usage contexts

Motion verbs: に for arrival, で for the activity at the destination

A single sentence often combines both particles: に on the motion-arrival verb and で on the action that follows after arrival.^{1 6 3} The canonical pattern is [place + に + arrival verb], [そこ + で + action verb]. The に names where the going ends. The で names where the waiting (or studying, or eating) happens.

The two particles are not in competition in this construction. They are doing two different jobs, and both are required for the full meaning. Beginner mistakes here usually take one of two shapes: dropping the で and reading the second verb's place from the first verb's に, or substituting に for で on the action verb. That substitution converts the action to an existence reading the speaker did not intend.³

駅えきに 行いって、 そこで 待まちます。³
"I'll go to the station and wait there." (に for arrival; で for the waiting.)

学校がっこうに 行いって、 友達ともだちと 勉強べんきょうします。⁸
"I'll go to school and study with my friend."

京都きょうとに 着ついて、 駅えきで バスに 乗のります。⁶
"I'll arrive in Kyoto and get on a bus at the station."

"I bought it at X": で, not に

Buying is an action, so the place where the buying happens takes で, not に.^{3 5} English "at" can suggest existence because English uses the same preposition for both existence ("the book is at the store") and action-location ("I bought it at the store"). Japanese forces the distinction.

This is one of the highest-frequency beginner errors precisely because of the English transfer. The fix is mechanical: if the verb names something the subject does (買う, 食べる, 読む, 待つ, 勉強する), the place takes で.^{3 5}

A frequent beginner error

Writing × 本屋ほんやに 本ほんを 買かった to mean "I bought a book at the bookstore" is wrong: 買う is an action verb and the place takes で. The correct form is 本屋ほんやで 本ほんを 買かった.^{3 5}

本屋ほんやで 本ほんを 買かいました。⁵
"I bought a book at the bookstore."

インターネットで 本ほんを 買かいます。⁵
"I buy books on the internet." (Buying-action; で even with a virtual place.)

会う takes either, with a meaning split

友達に会う and 駅で会う are both correct, but に and で are doing two different jobs. This is not the existence-vs-action contrast.^{3 19} In 友達に会う, に marks the person met as the indirect object of the meeting (the meeting is with the friend). The noun is a person, not a place.¹⁹ In 駅で会う, で marks the place of the meeting action.³

A single sentence can carry both: 駅で友達に会う ("I meet my friend at the station") combines place-で with person-に, and both are required.^{3 19} Avoid using に for the place of meeting (× 駅に会う). That leaves the indirect-object slot stranded and produces a sentence the listener cannot parse.³

友達ともだちに 会あいました。¹⁹
"I met a friend." (に marks the person met, not a place.)

駅えきで 会あいましょう。³
"Let's meet at the station." (で marks the place of the meeting action.)

駅えきで 友達ともだちに 会あいました。³
"I met a friend at the station." (で = place, に = person; both required.)

Time and abstract uses are out of scope

に for time-points (3時に会議がある) and で for time-frames (3日で終わる) are real uses. But they belong to the time inventory of the two particles, not the location contrast covered on this page.^{1 6 7} The unifying logic is the same (に pins a point, で marks a frame), but the contrast plays out with different kinds of nouns.

For the full time treatment, the dedicated articles on each particle cover the time-point and time-frame uses; this article does not re-teach them.

３時じに 会議かいぎが あります。⁶
"There is a meeting at 3 o'clock." (Time-point; に. Out of scope for this article.)

３日にちで 終おわります。⁷
"It will be finished in three days." (Time-span; で. Out of scope for this article.)

What about を?

を marks the path that a motion verb traverses: 公園を歩く ("walk through the park"), 道を渡る ("cross the road"), 空を飛ぶ ("fly through the sky").^{1 9} The subject moves through the place, not to it (which would be に) or at it (which would be で).

The three particles cover three distinct relations between verb and place: で is the scene of the action, に is the anchor or endpoint, and を is the path traversed. They do not overlap. The verb selects which one is correct, and the wrong one produces an ungrammatical or unintended reading.^{1 9 19}

公園こうえんを 歩あるきます。¹⁹
"I walk through the park." (を marks the path; not に or で.)

公園こうえんで 歩あるきます。³
"I walk in the park." (Action-location reading; the park is the scene of the walking.)

公園こうえんに 行いきます。⁸
"I go to the park." (Arrival; に.)

Good to know

The pushpin-and-stage mnemonic

The pedagogical mnemonic that holds up at N5 is に is a pushpin on a map (something is there, or going there), で is a stage (an action is performed on it).^{14 10} These are the standard Tofugu metaphors. They generalise across the high-frequency cases without breaking on the borderline verbs, because the resulting-state form (座っている, 立っている) still maps onto "pinned to a location" rather than "performing on a stage."^{14 10} The Japanese-side equivalent is に = 写真 (photo, static), で = 動画 (video, action), which compresses to the same intuition.¹³

The mnemonic has one limit worth flagging. The te-iru result form converts an action verb into a state. Result-form sentences (座っている, 立っている, 寝ている as "lying" not "sleeping") flip to に because the stage has become a pin.^{2 3} A learner who internalises "に for state, で for action" handles the flip automatically. A learner who memorises "座る is a で-verb" will get the te-iru form wrong.

The 住む trap

Almost every beginner writes the wrong form 東京で住んでいる at least once because "live" feels like an action in English.^{11 16} In Japanese, 住む is grammatically a stative-existence verb: residing somewhere is a state the subject is in, not an action the subject performs. 住む belongs to the closed list of に-verbs alongside ある, いる, 勤める, and 泊まる. The particle is に regardless of what the English translation feels like.^{11 12}

東京とうきょうに 住すんで います。¹¹
"I live in Tokyo."

Japanese teaching materials draw a sharp line between 住む and the activity-of-living verbs. 暮らす ("live, spend life") and 生活する ("live, lead a life") can take で because they name the activity of living rather than the state of being resident.¹¹ あのボロアパートで暮らしていた and あのボロアパートに住んでいた both translate as "I used to live in that shabby apartment," but the Japanese verb chooses the particle.¹¹

Frequency note: 住む is the most often mis-particled verb in N5 student writing across both Japanese-side teaching sources and English-side beginner explainers. That is why every published に / で comparison flags it explicitly.^{3 11 16 12}

Why ある can take で in narrow contexts

ある is normally an existence verb and takes に for the place where the thing exists. When ある is used in the lexical sense of "take place / be held," however, it licenses で for the place where the event happens.^{1 13} The two sentences contrast cleanly. ○○大学にきれいな図書館がある means "there is a beautiful library at OO University" (existence-ある, に). ○○大学でJLPTがある means "the JLPT is held at OO University" (event-ある, で).¹³

会議かいぎは 渋谷しぶやで あります。¹
"The meeting is in Shibuya." (Event-ある; place takes で.)

The diagnostic is the subject of ある. If the subject is a thing (a building, an object, a person), ある is the existence reading and the place takes に. If the subject is an event (a test, a ceremony, a party, a meeting), ある is the event reading and the place takes で.^{1 13} A practical substitution test is this: if ある can be swapped for 行われる ("be held") without changing the meaning, the place takes で.¹³

This is a register / lexical note, not a beginner rule. The N5 reader should learn it as a one-off rather than try to derive it from the existence-vs-action diagnostic.

The にて etymology and its formal-register survival

で derives historically from にて, the case particle に plus the te-form of the copula.²⁰ In Classical and Old Japanese, にて was the standard form for the senses now carried by modern で. The reduction にて > で is fully established in the modern language and complete by the Late Middle Japanese period.²⁰ The shared に root is not a coincidence: に and で descend from a single locative construction that split into two case particles as the にて compound reduced and specialised. に retained the "anchor point" function. で took the "frame for an event" function.²⁰

The formal にて has not disappeared. It survives in business documents, ceremonial speech, signage, and formal written prose as the formal alternative to で. 会議は本社にて開催いたします ("the meeting will be held at headquarters") is the formal counterpart of 会議は本社で開催します.²⁰ The learner does not need to produce にて, but should recognise it as "formal で" in formal text.

A self-check pattern before you commit to a particle

Before writing the particle, apply a single mental test. Finish the sentence with the verb and ask: "is the noun the place the verb-event happens, or the place the noun-subject is?" If the verb has no event (ある, いる, 住む, 勤める, 泊まる), the answer is always "the place the subject is," and the particle is に. If the verb has an event the subject performs, the answer is "the place the event happens," and the particle is で.^{1 2 3}

The test handles the borderline verbs correctly because it forces the learner to commit to a reading before picking a particle. ベッドで寝る means "the bed is where the sleeping-event happens," while ベッドに寝てください means "the bed is where the lying-down ends up." 椅子に座る means "the chair is where the sitting ends up," while 椅子に座っている means "the chair is where I am, in seated state."^{2 3 11}

The test does not require the learner to memorise abstract verb classes. It asks the simpler question "what is the noun doing in the sentence?" The answer determines the particle, and the verb determines the answer.^{1 3}

See also

• The に Particle: A Multi-Function Workhorse
• The で Particle: Means and Location of Action
• The を Particle: Direct Object
• The へ Particle: Direction Marker
• ある vs. いる: The Two Japanese Existence Verbs
• Japanese Particles (助詞): The Eight Categories Explained

References

Footnotes

1. Makino, Seiichi, and Michio Tsutsui. A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar. The Japan Times, 1986. ISBN 978-4-7890-0454-1. Entries: "ni¹" (location of existence), "de¹" (location of action), and the comparison note that treats stative-existence verbs (ある, いる, 住む, 勤める) as obligatory に, dynamic-event verbs as obligatory で, and the event-aru reading (パーティーは渋谷である) as the lexical exception where ある means "take place." ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷ ↩²⁸ ↩²⁹ ↩³⁰ ↩³¹ ↩³²

2. Tofugu. "に (Ni) vs で (De): How These Two Particles Define Location and Time Differently." https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/ni-vs-de/ (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the pin-vs-area framing, the 学校にいる vs 学校で勉強する canonical pair, and the 椅子に座る verbs-of-attachment treatment.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶

3. 80/20 Japanese. "Ni vs De: How to choose between these two location-defining particles." https://8020japanese.com/ni-vs-de/ (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the verb-list inventory, the 駅で会う vs 友達に会う person-vs-place split, and the 椅子に座る / 椅子に座っている stative-result examples.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷ ↩²⁸ ↩²⁹ ↩³⁰ ↩³¹ ↩³² ↩³³ ↩³⁴ ↩³⁵ ↩³⁶ ↩³⁷ ↩³⁸ ↩³⁹ ↩⁴⁰ ↩⁴¹

4. 庵功雄 (Iori, Isao). 『新しい日本語学入門』(Atarashii Nihongogaku Nyūmon), 2nd ed. スリーエーネットワーク (3A Network), 2012. ISBN 978-4-88319-606-5. Chapters on 格助詞 (case particles); treatment of に and で as separate case particles with overlapping place-noun distribution that is resolved by verb class. ↩

5. Coto Japanese Academy. "Guide to で (De) Particle in Japanese: Meaning, Use & Examples." https://cotoacademy.com/de-particle-japanese/ (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for verified beginner example sentences for location-of-action で and the 本屋で本を買う buying-action pattern.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

6. Bunpro. "に (JLPT N5 Grammar Point)." https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/%E3%81%AB (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for JLPT-level confirmation and the explicit に vs で contrast statement "東京に住む vs 東京で勉強する.") ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

7. Bunpro. "で (JLPT N5 Grammar Point)." https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/%E3%81%A7 (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for JLPT-level confirmation and the "place allows action" gloss of で vs the "place is target for action" gloss of に.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

8. Banno, Eri, Yoko Ikeda, Yutaka Ohno, Chikako Shinagawa, and Kyoko Tokashiki. Genki I: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese, 3rd ed. The Japan Times, 2020. ISBN 978-4-7890-1730-5. Chapter 3 introduces で for location of action and に for destination; chapter 4 introduces に for location of existence with あります / います; explicit に / で contrast exercises follow. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵

9. Kuno, Susumu. The Structure of the Japanese Language. MIT Press, 1973. ISBN 978-0-262-11049-5. Chapters on the case particles; treatment of で as the marker of the scene of action and に as the marker of the location of existence, including the verb-driven account of the contrast. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

10. Tofugu. "Particle で: To Specify How / Where." https://www.tofugu.com/japanese-grammar/particle-de/ (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the volleyball-court metaphor for で and the volleyball example contrasting で and に on the same place noun.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

11. Maggie Sensei. "Location particles : に vs で (ni vs de)." https://maggiesensei.com/2012/02/16/location-particles-%E3%81%AB-vs-%E3%81%A7/ (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the 住む / 暮らす split, the ベッドで寝る vs ベッドに寝る borderline pair, and the 勤める / 働く particle split.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹

12. The Language Garage. "Japanese Particles ni and de." https://thelanguagegarage.com/japanese-particles-ni-and-de/ (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the 住む / 泊まる stative-に rule and the 座る destination-endpoint analysis.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

13. コトハジメ (Cotohajime). "助詞「に」と「で」の違いがわからん！" https://cotohajime.net/japanese-particle-ni-de/ (limitation: language-teaching publisher, Japanese-side; used for the 森に家を建てた vs 森で家を建てた minimal pair, the 写真 vs 動画 mnemonic, and the existence-aru vs event-aru split with の大学に図書館がある vs ○○大学でJLPTがありました.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹

14. Tofugu. "Particle に: For Pin Pointing Locations." https://www.tofugu.com/japanese-grammar/particle-ni/ (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the "pushpin on a map" unifying metaphor for に.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

15. japanese-hack. "場所の助詞『で・に』の違いや使い分け." https://japanese-hack.com/useful-japanese/particle-ni-de/ (limitation: language-teaching publisher, Japanese-side; used for the Japanese-side verb inventory 存在・移動/方向 vs 動作 and verified examples including 温泉旅館に泊まる.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

16. LTL Japanese. "Japanese Location Particles | Using に and で (N5 Level)." https://ltl-japanese.com/grammar-bank/location-particles/ (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for JLPT N5-level confirmation and verified beginner example sentences across existence and action verbs.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

17. Tsutomeru vs Hataraku reference. JP YoKoSo. "勤める vs 働く (Tsutomeru vs Hataraku)." https://jpyokoso.com/tsutomeru-vs-hataraku/ (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the 勤める-as-membership / 働く-as-activity contrast and the [company] に勤める vs [place] で働く pattern.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

18. スリーエーネットワーク (3A Network). 『みんなの日本語 初級I 本冊』(Minna no Nihongo Shokyū I), 2nd ed. 3A Network, 2012. ISBN 978-4-88319-603-4. Lessons 3 through 13 introduce に for existence and destination and で for location of action; lesson 10 establishes the contrast explicitly. ↩ ↩²

19. Wasabi. "Objects of Japanese Verbs with Particles: を, に, and と." https://wasabi-jpn.com/magazine/japanese-grammar/objects-of-japanese-verbs-with-particles-o-ni-and-to/ (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the 友達に会う person-as-indirect-object analysis distinguishing person-に from place-で.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

20. Frellesvig, Bjarke. A History of the Japanese Language. Cambridge University Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-521-65320-6. Treatment of Old and Classical Japanese case particles; derivation of で from にて (に + the te-form of the copula) and the parallel-development relation between に and で. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴