91005
[This](https://www.reddit.com/r/LearningJapanese/comments/qgxcev/the_use_of_ni_in_this_sentence_i_thought_ni_was/)
question on Reddit piqued my interest, and as of now doesn't have an adequate
answer. The sentence in question is:

> 古見さん **に** 友達が増えた. Komi-san made a new friend.

I know に is a very versatile case particle with many meanings, but what is the
specific usage here? Any other example sentences with this type of に? How is
the nuance different from 「古見さん **の** 友達が増えた」 or 「古見さん **は** 友達が増えた」?
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question
grammar particles particle-に
What's the use of に in「古見さんに友達が増えた」?
I think the English translation is misleading here. Literal translation will
be "Komi-san's friend(s) became more numerous", or even more literal "Friends
became more numerous at/for/to Komi-san". So friend(s) are the actor and Komi-
san is a recepient. As such she is marked with "ni". But of course she can be
marked with "ha" as well.

It works similarly in Russian, so it's not peculiar to Japanese.
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It’s not much different from sentences like this.

> 駅前に店ができた。

This できる describes a change of state, a kind that puts something into
existence somewhere. That _somewhere_ is marked with に. This usage of に could
be seen as basically the same as the standard usage of the particle in the
sentence below, except the _existence_ described will happen only as a result
of the change described by the verb.

> 駅前に店がある。

増える in your sentence works in a similar manner. As a result of the described
change, Komi-san has a new friend or friends, or they _come into existence in_
Komi-san. In fact, this state can be described as below.

> 古味さんに（新しい）友達がいる。

(This usage of に is discussed
[here](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/42803/43676).)

増える doesn’t always work like that, though. For example, 人口が増える doesn’t
describe a change that newly puts something into existence somewhere. It
merely describes a change in some variable. So, the following sentence is a
bit strange.

> 日本に人口が増えた。
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