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Grammar detail: への

への
particle へ plus の combination
229 words
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への is a commonly encountered combination of two particles, the direction particle へ, and the nominalizer の.
When used alone, へ indicates direction - so for example it is commonly used to describe going somewhere:
もくようび
木曜日
に
にほん
日本
へ
い
行
きます
。
I'm going to Japan on Thursday.
As we can see here, the へ is immediately followed by a verb: going (行きます) to (へ) Japan.
The addition of の after the へ turns the direction into a small noun phrase that can be used to modify a different part of speech, such as another noun. Let's look at an example:
ヒルさんは
きのう
昨日
、
にほん
日本
への
りょこう
旅行
に
しゅっぱつ
出発
した
。
Mr Hill went on a journey to Japan yesterday.
As in the first example, we start with 日本へ (to Japan), but by following it with の, we now have a noun phrase which we can link to another noun,
りょこう
旅行
- 'trip to Japan'.
Since 日本 is a noun, we could technically link 日本 and 旅行 directly with の. Since 日本 is obviously a destination, this would be understandable in this situation, but the addition of the へ makes it much clearer that travel is involved.
への can also be used with verbs of 'giving'. Usually, when giving a present, we would use the particle に to indicate directly who we are giving the gift to:
われわれ
我々
は
はは
母
に
とけい
時計
をプレゼントした。
We gave our mother a watch.
However, the use of へ plus の (nominalizer) now gives us a noun phrase meaning 'the gift for ~' which can be used as part of a more complicated construction:
かれ
彼
ら
は
はは
母
への
おく
贈
り
もの
物
を
か
買
う
だけの
かね
金
を
よ
寄
せ
あつ
集
めた
。
They scraped up enough money to buy a gift for their mother.
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Kanji used in this grammar

行
コウ   ギョウ   アン   ゆく    いく to go   おこなう to take place   
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日
ニチ   ジツ   sun; day   ひ    -か    
本
ホン   book   もと origin   
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旅
リョ   たび trip   
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木
モク   ボク   き    こ- tree   
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曜
ヨウ    day of the week   
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昨
サク    yesterday   
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出
シュツ   スイ   だす to take out, to put out   でる to go out, to exit   
発
ハツ   ホツ    emission, discharge   
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我
ガ   I; myself   われ    わが-    
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々
(kanji repetition symbol)   
母
ボ   はは mother   
時
ジ   とき time, occasion   
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計
ケイ   はからう to arrange   はかる to measure, compute   
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彼
ヒ   かれ he   
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贈
ゾウ   おくる to present, to give   
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物
ブツ   モツ   もの thing   
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買
バイ   かう to buy   
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金
キン   コン   かね gold; money   
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寄
キ   よる to draw near   よせる to bring near   
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集
シュウ   あつめる to gather   あつまる    つどう to assemble   
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