には - Grammar Discussion

in order to
in regard to
for・as for

Structure

  • Verb + には
  • Noun + には

View on Bunpro

For the cases where this means “as for”, how does には differ from は? Often the topic is translated the same way.

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I am also wondering this. What exactly is the difference between には and は? Is it just to add more emphasis on the subject, or is there something else going on?

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I am puzzled by the examples using, say, 団地 and 地下水.

In DIJG, of 290-291, the には structure is split into

  • Verb + には. Then this indicates the purpose.
  • Action noun + には. Again, this indicates purpose. (And they define an action noun as the noun part of a する verb, or the direct object to する.)

Great, both indicate purpose. That is easily understood as an abbreviation of ために / のに. DIJG also explains:

  • Non-action noun + には. The sentence does not explain a purpose. All the examples they give are of the form に (in any of it’s meanings, time/location/target/… marker) + は (topic marker). That is, those example are not abbreviations of ために / のに.

Are some of the Bunpro example sentences of that last form? I can’t see how underground water or multistory apartment buildings are action nouns and how those examples of には could be abbreviations of ために / のに.

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Hey @narfi!

You are absolutely right, originally this grammar was meant to cover all uses of the には, but later we have changed its goal to express purpose without really changing the sentences.

The examples you mentioned were the other uses of には, which basically is attaching は to all uses of に to express contrast with something or make the Nounに into the topic of the sentence.

I have replaced those with the “purpose”-type sentences, so it is all consistent now.

Sorry for the inconvenience,
Cheers

PS
There is another use of には when it follows a noun denoting person and it means “for (as opposed to others)”, almost like にとって as in:
私にはその意味がわかりません。
The meaning of that is unknown to me.

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Dear @mrnoone,
thank you for the quick turnaround and excellent grammar explanations as always! The new example sentences are great.
Best,
Narfi

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No problemo, happy to help :slight_smile:

How exactly is this different from のに? A lot of the example sentences look like には is interchangeable with のに.

Hey there @onekun !

This might be a helpful discussion!