で As “At,” “In,” “On”
“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” – Robert F. Kennedy
Check out the quote really quick and remember that failing is part of the process to make something successful. It’s not that really successful people never fail… it’s that they fail a lot, because they try a lot. As they learn, they get better and better and eventually they are successful. You should be doing that with your Japanese as well – don’t be afraid to fail, because eventually those failures will mean a lot more than everything you got right.
Let’s take a look at で now. The first way to use で indicates the following:
で indicates a location in which something is happening
So, where is something happening?
aマクドナルドで
At McDonalds
aがっこうで
At school
aうちで
At home
That right there is the first step to learning this. LOCATION + で means “at LOCATION.” Now, what can you do with this? All you have to do is say what happened or what you will do at this location right afterwards, just using things from what you’ve learned before.
aマクドナルドで すし を たべました。
At McDonalds, I ate sushi.
aがっこうで にほんご を べんきょうしました。
At school, I studied Japanese.
aうちで ビール を のんだ。
I drank beer at home.
These are the simplest ways to use this form of the particle で. Let’s stick with the simple for now (we’ll hit more interesting stuff in the practice section of this chapter later on, for now I just want you to learn and understand the concept).
Let’s take a look at some practice sentences. I want you to try this a little on your own and then move on to the next で. It’s no good to leave these で particles unattended for too long.