I'm just starting to learn Japanese. I do not quite understand one of the uses
of the captioned particles. I've learned that に refers to the location of the
destination, and へ refers to the direction of the destination. But my friend
told me they are interchangeable and に is colloquial and へ is for writing. If
yes, in below cases are they interchangeable?

>   1. 川の向こう **へ** 渡る橋は一つしかありませんでした。
>   2. 友達とレストラン **へ** 行きます。
>   3. 来月国 **へ** 帰ります。
>

Will the meanings be different if へ is changed to に? If yes, what difference
will there be?
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2015-07-29T13:25:44.530
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2021-09-22T01:04:47.160
2021-09-22T01:04:47.160
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question
grammar particles particle-に particle-へ
Are へ and に interchangeable in these cases?
「に」 being colloquial and 「へ」 being for writing, not really. You can have
colloquial writing, for example. I think your friend is mixing _spoken_
language with _colloquial_ language.

**Spoken** would be the language that comes out in the form of sound. Being
**sponken** doesn't automatically implies that it is **colloquial**. You can
have **formal** , **polite** spoken language, like people interacting in a
business meeting or in a corporate environment. Likewise, you can have
**colloquial written** language, like a lot of dialogue in fiction or text
messages exchanged between friends.
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2015-07-29T21:48:35.720
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2015-07-30T22:38:07.690
2015-07-30T22:38:07.690
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answer
I think you can use へ or に more or less interchangeably in your examples
without any real change in meaning, but に is probably the more common choice.

> 1a. 川の向こう **へ** 渡る橋は一つしかありませんでした。  
>  1b. 川の向こう **に** 渡る橋は一つしかありませんでした。
>
> 2a. 友達とレストラン **へ** 行きます。  
>  2b. 友達とレストラン **に** 行きます。
>
> 3a. 来月国 **へ** 帰ります。  
>  3b. 来月国 **に** 帰ります。

Even if you use へ instead of に, you wouldn't be returning _in the direction_
of your home country next month, you'd be returning _to_ your home country.
You most likely wouldn't be going _in the direction of_ a restaurant with your
friend, you'd be going _to_ a restaurant with your friend.

Sometimes you find explanations online saying something like "に indicates a
destination while へ indicates a direction of motion". While it's true that へ
can indicate a direction rather than a destination, this isn't the whole
story. **The particle へ can also indicate the _endpoint_ of motion**, and it
often does. When it does, へ and に have a lot of overlap.

In fact, when I check 明鏡国語辞典, I find:

> ①《移動や伝達など方向性をもつ述語とともに使って》  
>  ㋐《方向を表す体言に付いて》移動の方向を表す。  
>  「一路西へ向かう」「右へ右へと回る」「こっちへ来い」「海の方へ飛んでいく」  
>  ㋑《 **地点を表す** 体言に付いて》 **到達点を表す** 。  
>  「頂上へたどり着く」「故郷へ帰る」「池へコイを放つ」「荷物をロッカーへ入れる」

As you can see, monolingual dictionaries also list the "endpoint of motion"
meaning for へ. Take a look at the examples under ①㋑:

  1. Do you imagine finally reaching the summit of the mountain after a long journey, or do you imagine finally reaching _in the direction of_ the mountaintop? What would that even mean?

  2. Do you imagine returning to your hometown, or do you imagine returning _in the direction_ of your hometown? The latter doesn't really make sense, does it?

  3. Do you imagine putting your luggage in a locker, or do you imagine putting your luggage _in the direction_ of the locker? Again, the latter is probably not what it means.

Sometimes へ is very much like に.

* * *

In general, when both へ and に can be used with the same meaning, に is more
common. This is particularly true in speech, where に is significantly more
common than へ.

So yes, it's true that へ is used more often in writing. Part of this is
because of への and へと:

  1. The sequence への is often used because ＊にの is ungrammatical:

> 東京 **への** 道 the road to Tōkyō  
>  ＊東京 **にの** 道 _(ungrammatical)_

This construction is more common in writing than in speech.

  2. And へと is a literary compound particle indicating a spatial (or sometimes non-spatial) goal, so of course in this usage へ appears mainly in writing.

But people certainly say へ as well, just not quite as often. In speech, へ
appears particularly often following certain nouns, for example in そこへ or どこへ.
So your friend's explanation that に is colloquial and へ is for writing isn't
quite right.

* * *

In this answer, the giant asterisk ＊ marks a sequence as ungrammatical.
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2015-07-30T22:08:21.963
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2015-07-30T23:04:02.317
2015-07-30T23:04:02.317
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answer