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All the に vs で comparisons I can find discuss using them with verbs. However I
recently wanted to say something like "I am alone at home", and phrased it
without a verb:

> 家で一人です

But that got me thinking whether it could also have been:

> 家に一人です

because my understanding is that に is used in a similar way with ある/いる for
"existence in a place".

Google has lots of results for both. Can I use either? If so, what's the
difference?
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2012-12-25T18:00:19.730
9846
2012-12-27T16:00:26.320
700
question
particles particle-に particle-で
に vs で with state of being (but no verb)
Treat state of being and verb uniformly, as if state of being was a verb
itself. There should be no difference is using に vs で depending on verb/state
of being being used. It is always the same: whether you stress "in the place
X" (に) or "the way of X" (で). It is really minor difference in case of 家, but
it is orthogonal to the fact if the sentence ends with a state of being or a
true verb.
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2012-12-26T14:53:28.953
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2012-12-26T14:53:28.953
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I don't see much difference between:

  * [家]{いえ}に[一人]{ひとり}です。and 家で一人です。  

  * [今]{いま}、家に[独]{ひと}りぼっちです。and 今、家で独りぼっちです。  

  * [今夜]{こんや}は[部屋]{へや}に一人きりだ。and 今夜は部屋で一人きりだ。  

I think we tend to use で in daily conversation and に when we write when we use
一人だ/独りぼっちだ etc. to mean "alone/there's nobody else in the room/house".  
  

However, I see a slight difference between:

  * [職場]{しょくば}に独りぼっちです。and 職場で独りぼっちです。  

  * [教室]{きょうしつ}に一人です。and 教室で一人です。  

  * 今、[学校]{がっこう}に一人きりです。and 今、学校で一人きりです。  

I think ~~に一人/独り means "I'm (physically) alone/Nobody else is here", while
~~で一人/独り can be used for both "I'm (physically) alone" and "I'm (mentally)
alone. I'm isolated. Nobody talks to me in class"...  
(And I think this is why 「[最近]{さいきん}、クラスで一人です。」「このごろ、教室で[孤独]{こどく}です。」(I've
been isolated and lonely in class these days) sound fine but
「最近、クラスに一人です。」「このごろ、教室に孤独です。」sound awkward.)
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2012-12-27T10:56:43.613
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2012-12-27T15:43:22.783
2012-12-27T15:43:22.783
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I will attempt to build on from Chocolate's answer, and explain the grammar
behind Chocolate's observation:

> ~~に一人/独り means "I'm (physically) alone/Nobody else is here", while ~~で一人/独り
> can be used for both "I'm (physically) alone" and "I'm (mentally) alone. I'm
> isolated.

* * *

In `[location]に一人です`, the location is an **important** part of the sentence;
dative/locative particle に indicates the target of the verb which in this case
is to exist. This means "I am existing alone at [location]" is an
unbreakable(for lack of a better word) unit of meaning. This corresponds to
being quite literally "physically alone".

For `~~で一人です`, `~~で` is an adjunct. The sentence is still complete without it.
This means "I am existing alone" is one unit of meaning. Then the location is
an additional **incidental** information. This means it is possible to first
be `一人です`, then the location for where it happens is incidental, including
places where there are people. This is why it can be used for both "I'm
(physically) alone" and "I'm (mentally) alone.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-12-27T16:00:26.320
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