The Difference between に vs で for Time and Place
に and で are Japanese particles. Basically these two particles tell you time and place of someone, something, or some event. Actually, they can tell you much more in different situations, but for now that is not important.
に and で both indicate time and place. However, they can’t always show up in the same situation. Further more, when they can, they mean or infer something different.
The difference between に vs で can be summed up as:
に：
◆ Tells you that an action happened on something
◆ Place where something or someone is
◆ Simply to tell you when something happens
で：
◆ Place where something happens
◆ When something ends or duration
Table of Contents
に vs で -Location
で
Explaining where something happens is the most basic use of で. Here, when you see で it just means that something happened here.
I eat at this restaurant often
に
に on the other hand, has two uses for location. The first one tells you that someone or something exists in some place. This is close to how で is used but is limited to people or things being in a place. It can not be used for events or actions like で.
I live in an apartment
The other use of に is to tell you that an action happened on something. Here, に focuses on the action happening on the object which could be a place. If you switched this with で then the meaning would again be that the action happened at this place, and not on the object.
I placed a cup on the table
に vs で – Time
に
に for time is pretty straightforward. It just tells you when something took place.
I graduate in January
で
If you are talking about time, で has a more restricted use. When で is used instead of に it tells you when something terminates or the duration up to now.
It will be two years this month since I came here
