を, に and へ: Japanese Object and Destination Particles

を (wo), に (ni), and へ (he) are fundamental case particles from the very beginning. They cover the direct object, destination, time point, recipient, and direction of movement: knowing their roles is essential for building complete sentences.

を marks what directly undergoes the action: パンを食べる (パンをたべる / pan wo taberu) “I eat bread” (we transliterate it as wo, but it is pronounced like お).

に is the most versatile: it marks a precise destination (学校に行く (がっこうにいく / gakkō ni iku) “I go to school”), a punctual time (七時に起きる (しちじにおきる / shichiji ni okiru) “I get up at seven”), and the recipient or indirect object (友だちに電話する (ともだちにでんわする / tomodachi ni denwa suru) “I call a friend”).

へ expresses direction: the way one moves or is oriented, physically or conceptually (we transliterate it as he, but it is pronounced like え). It emphasizes the orientation of the path more than the exact arrival point: 東京へ行く (とうきょうへいく / Tōkyō he iku) “I go toward Tokyo”.

That is the difference with に: に indicates the precise destination, the point reached; へ indicates the direction, where one is headed, also figuratively, like a goal, ideal, or tendency. With a concrete place the two are often interchangeable; in the app’s content we use に by default when the destination is a precise place.

Related particle lessons

• は vs が: Japanese Particles Wa and Ga Explained
• を, に and へ: Japanese Object and Destination Particles
• で vs に: Where to Use the Japanese Particle De
• と, も and の: Japanese Particles To, Mo and No
• から and まで: From and Until in Japanese
• よ and ね: Japanese Sentence-Ending Particles