Page 122 - Basic Japanese
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inserting it after every few words. This seems to be particularly
true of the speech of women, as in Kyō ne, sūpā ni ne, ittara ne,
Yamada-san ga ne, Tanaka-san to hanashiteta no yo ‘When I went to the
supermarket today, (I saw) Ms. Yamada talking with Ms.
Tanaka.’ For the foreign student, it is advisable to avoid using
the particle except at the end of a sentence, as above.
3.5. Particle で de
The particle de has two quite different meanings. One is ‘by
means of’:
車で来ましたか。
Kuruma de kimashita ka.
Did you come by car?
筆で名前を書きました。
Fude de namae o kakimashita.
I wrote my name with a brush.
Another meaning is ‘(an action happens) at (a place)’:
学校で勉強します。
Gakkō de benkyō shimasu.
I study at school.
You have already learned that the particle ni means ‘at’ in
the sense of a location in space:
