に vs へ – The Difference between e and ni

There are two Japanese particle に and へ which basically mean the same thing. In most situations they are interchangeable and you could probably get away with out even using へ most of the time. So, if you are wondering to yourself, why are there two words for basically the same thing, try not to worry too much about it. But if you are interested about when to use に vs へ let’s take a look.

When to use に vs へ

The first thing to know is that に has many more usages than just telling direction. へ on the other hand, only refers to direction. For that reason, here we are only going to compare に with へ when talking about direction. If you are interested though you can learn more about everything に can do in に in Japanese.

に in Japanese, the Particle with the most Usages

japaneseuniverse.com

に and へ are both particles. So, they come after nouns. There are two situations though where へ should be used instead of に. First, the particle の  can not follow に. In this situation you will always use へ instead.

Next, when writing letters, you use へ after the name of the addressee.

Other than these two situations, に and へ are pretty much interchangeable.

But, even if you can pick either of the particles, there are slight difference in nuances between the two.

What is the Difference between に and へ

The basic difference between に vs へ is that に refers to specific destinations and へ refers to direction.

に is for Intentional or Specific Destinations

When we use に then the focus is on the destination. The destination is the noun that に follows. So, let’s say we are going to Osaka.

Here, we are focusing on the destination and not the trip to Osaka. に is the better choice to use for situations when we want to talk about a specific place. Using に shows more intention on going to that place than if we were to use へ.

Above, we are talking about going to a friends house. Since this is an intentional act it is better to use に. It is ok to use へ in either of the situations though.

へ is for Direction or Route

If we use へ it has more a sense of heading in this direction. The focus is still not only on the destination but the direction toward the destination.

Above we took the same sentence as before but only switched に with へ. The sentence means the same thing but has a sense of, I am heading for Osaka, at the same time as going to Osaka.

へ does not have the focus on the intention of getting to the destination like に does. It actually has a sense of being less intentional. For that reason it is the better particle to use when talking about hurricanes, or other natural phenomena.

In the above situation, the tornado does not intend on going south but is just sort of going in that direction.

Resources

• に – Weblio 
• へ – Weblio 
• 方向を表す「に」と「へ」 
• 助詞「に」「へ」の使い分け – 文章の鬼 
• 2,110 Pages, No Word Wasted – A Dictionary of Japanese Grammar, Reviewed